


Timetracks

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, pretty much everything basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2018-10-19 05:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 31,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10632930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: A collection of Two-era prompt fills.





	1. The stars or space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

The stars glint like gemstones far above him, cold and distant and ever so far away. Jamie reaches up towards them almost instinctively, then curls back in on himself, glancing around nervously. The distant echo of gunfire makes him flinch – once, twice, three times. He clenches his fists to hide his trembling, despite the fact that there is no one to see.

“ _Don't be frightened, Jamie_ ,” a voice in his mind seems to whisper. “ _There's nothing here that can harm you. I won't allow it._ ” For a moment, he is soothed by it. He trusts the owner of that voice with his life, though he only distantly remembers him. But there is no one here to protect him from the redcoats that would kill him without a second thought, no one to shield him from their bullets. That calming voice has abandoned him. He is utterly alone.

Lying on the cold ground as he is, the stars seem unreachable, and he is struck by a pang of loneliness. For a brief, precious few seconds, he remembers, his past unfolding in his mind, terrifying and incomprehensible and wonderful. In those seconds, he knows that the stars are not cold at all, that he has been among them, and believes that one day he will be returned to them. To the Doctor.

Musket fire sounds again, a little closer this time, and the feeling of security passes. There are no stars close to him, no warmth and comfort, no Doctor, just the dirt beneath him and the meagre shelter of the bushes and the shouts and distant torches of the redcoats. No bright and hopeful saviour.

He wraps his plaid more securely over his shoulders, grasps the hilt of his dirk in one hand, sleeps, and forgets.


	2. A fistfight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [thescarletpaperback](thescarletpaperback.tumblr.com).

“Jamie!”

The Doctor bustled after him, his hands flapping in alarm, blustering and begging. “Jamie, please, this is madness.”

“No,” Jamie announced, marching along as determinedly as he could with the Doctor jumping around him like some crazed insect. “I've already promised that I'd meet him in single combat. And a McCrimmon never goes back on his word.”

“Something I know all too well,” the Doctor muttered wearily. “He's five times your size!”

Pausing for a moment, Jamie peered through the archway at his opponent. The alien creature was massive, covered in serrated spines and pale blue scales that looked more like stone than anything. His bill snapped at the air menacingly, as if he had caught Jamie's scent and was waiting for his prey to enter the trap.

“Ten times bigger, I'd wager,” he pointed out grimly. “But I'm faster than he is, and if I can just get a shot at his eyes...”

“We could just go,” the Doctor pleaded, tugging at his sleeve. His wide eyes made him look like a tired child begging to go home. “No one would ever have to know.”

“I'd know.” Jamie reached out to take the Doctor's arm, slipping out of his vest and draping it over him. “Hold that, will ye?”

He thought he heard the Doctor mutter something about stubborn Scots not knowing what was good for them and what was more likely to kill them, but he was far too occupied with surveying the beastie for weaknesses, possible footholds that would let him win. He turned back to the Doctor, seeing for the first time the genuine fear in his eyes.

“I'll be fine.” He placed his hands on the Doctor's shoulders, and the Doctor looked up at him worriedly. “Promise.”

“Well, if you must go -” the Doctor kissed his cheek quickly. “Be careful. It's hardly worth your life – I still don't know why you're doing this -”

“Here.” Jamie leant down for a proper kiss, cutting off the Doctor's fretting. “For luck,” he added, their noses brushing together.

“Mm. Off you go, then.”

“Aye. Won't be long.” Jamie straightened up, squared his shoulders, and set off towards the creature. “No one calls my kilt a skirt and gets away with it, however big they are.”


	3. When words aren’t enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“It's...” The Doctor struggled to find the right words. “I'm very glad to have you back, Jamie.”

“Aye, I know. I missed ye.”

It seemed strange that this awkwardness between them should arise now, hours – perhaps even days, it had been difficult to tell – since they had been reunited. But there it was, a vast, empty chasm rising up between them as they returned to the TARDIS, and the Doctor wondered if it would ever close. How could he express to Jamie the magnitude of the years he had spent without him, missing him desperately, where for Jamie it had been a mere week? How could he explain that the pain of that had not faded, that simply seeing Jamie again had not fixed it, that he might never get used to having him around again? He was terrified of Jamie leaving as soon as he found out how much he had changed – but were he not honest, Jamie might leave anyway.

Glancing back towards Jamie, he saw that he was holding out a hand and smiling a little shyly. He should not have underestimated Jamie's ability to understand him, he thought. Of course Jamie recognised that he needed absolute proof of his presence, that there were things he needed to show, not tell. Another thing he had forgotten.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Of course.”

The Doctor reached out to take his hand, closing his eyes and reaching out for Jamie's mental presence. It had been so long since he had done this. The rush of contact made him flinch, their once carefully-woven link now raw from lack of use, but Jamie simply gripped his hand tighter, and he was drawn into the connection with a rush like being doused in warm water. Even with his eyes closed, he knew Jamie was smiling. _Hello_.

_Hello yourself_ , he replied. _I really have missed you._

_How much?_

_This much._ The Doctor probed into his own pent-up fear and worry and sadness, knowing that Jamie could feel it too, and was met by Jamie's own past terror and confusion, expressing what words could not. It felt as if he were cleansing a wound, removing a burden he had carried for so long. _Do you still love me?_

_I told you last night._ Fondness mixed into Jamie's concern, making the Doctor smile in return. _Of course I do. Can't you feel that I do?_

The Doctor's thoughts were tangled for a moment by the weight of Jamie's affection. _I love you too._

_Better?_

_There's no hiding anything from you, is there?_

He felt Jamie's little huff of laughter. _I know you too well. I knew there were things bothering you, things you couldn't say._ A little flicker there, worry for the time they had been apart. Jamie understood that now, felt what the Doctor had felt.

_Of course you did. I didn't know how to tell you, but I won't keep things from you again._

_Yes, you will. But I'll always know._

_I know you will._

The Doctor opened his eyes to Jamie watching him fondly, cupping his face and tilting his chin up. “Don't say anything,” he murmured, before the Doctor could even open his mouth. “You dinnae need to.”

The Doctor nodded, leant up, and kissed him.


	4. When it rains/snows/storms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [keatulie](keatulie.tumblr.com).

The three travellers gazed up at the scanner in mystification, attempting to find some sense in the marbled pattern emblazoned on it.

“I think it's broken,” Jamie put in. “Ye cannae go a week without some wee gadget or another breaking.”

“I don't think so,” the Doctor said thoughtfully, tapping at his lips with one finger. “No, there's no static. If it were broken, the picture wouldn't be so clear.”

“Isn't there something else?” Victoria asked.

Jamie could not begrudge her the frustration in her voice. The Doctor had promised them a relaxing trip to the beach, but it seemed that he had once again failed to deliver. Despite his assurances that they had reached a perfectly nice seaside town, in the few hours they had spent waiting for sunrise, the scanner's picture had changed drastically. “Why can't we just open the doors?”

“And let that inside, whatever it is?” Victoria stepped away from the doors instinctively. “No thankyou.”

The Doctor, however, seemed to think Jamie's suggestion held rather more merit. “There's nothing dangerous outside that the TARDIS can pick up,” he pointed out. “There's been a sudden, ah, drop in local temperature, but nothing else.” He crossed to the controls, and Jamie grinned triumphantly, striding over to the doors and hoping beyond hope that this time the Doctor really did know where they'd landed.

The doors opened with a creak of complaint, but Jamie barely had enough time to register this before he was submerged in a deluge of _something_ , cold and heavy, knocking him backwards. His head hit the floor painfully, and he sat up, rubbing the spot ruefully, eyes stinging from a sudden rush of cold air. Something was whipping painfully against his cheeks.

“What happened?” he asked, reaching out to touch the white chunks on the floor. “Snow?”

“Oh! How delightful.” The Doctor was in a flurry of motion at once, clapping his hands joyfully and twirling away from the doors to fiddle with the console. The image on the scanner shifted away from the white mass to reveal a brightly-lit expanse of glittering snow. “Yes, I think so – we've landed on the famous snow beaches of Metrexis VII!”

“So we are at a beach after all?” Jamie asked.

“A cold, snowy beach,” Victoria put in doubtfully. “We finally get to the beach, and we get snowed in.”

“Och, this is nothing. I've been to colder places, I've lived in them -”

“Have you been swimming in them, though?”

“We have a few hours before the temperature rises,” the Doctor interrupted “There's always a few hours when the snow melts, and it's just right for swimming. The snow should have melted by then.”

“What about all this?” Jamie asked, lifting a handful of the snow that had settled on the console room floor. “Won't it melt too?”

“We'll just have to clear it up before then, won't we?” the Doctor said. He closed the doors, the whistle of the cold breeze dying away almost eerily. “I did promise you a beach, didn't I? And here we are.” He grinned mischievously, and Jamie braced himself for the inevitable. “With _snow_ problems, wouldn't you agree, Jamie?”

The Doctor's smug smile was quickly hidden by the handful of snow Jamie flung towards him.


	5. An obscure AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [keatulie](keatulie.tumblr.com).

A hundred ways in which this could go terribly wrong raced through the Doctor's mind all at once. This was hardly the best time for such a revelation – they had only just stepped into the TARDIS, the adrenaline that had prompted him to call Jamie over draining away. But it was too late now; Ben and Polly had left them alone, he had told Jamie there was something important he needed to say, and now Jamie was waiting expectantly, his good hand still wrapped around the bandages on his other arm. It was that little show of weakness that prompted the Doctor onwards, pushing the memory of invisible talons slicing through Jamie's skin out of his mind. There was always the danger that he would not get another chance.

“Jamie,” he began hesitantly. Jamie gave a little smile of encouragement and he very nearly stopped himself from going any further. What if Jamie were to reject him, or even leave him? What they had was new and tenuous enough. No, he thought determinedly. He had to be honest. “You do, ah, remember me telling you about how my people don't have children in the way you humans do?” Another attempt to explain to him. A failure of his courage to see it through.

“Aye, I remember.”

“Well, you see...” The Doctor twisted his hands together nervously, and Jamie reached out to take them gently, stilling his motion. “The TARDIS, she's a rather old model, and she – well, there are certain obsolete features in some of the rooms, and one of them just so happens to be a disused loom. And when we took you on board, she decided that you and I were compatible, so to speak, and it – well, it activated.”

Jamie stared at him for a moment. _Now you've done it_ , the Doctor scolded himself. _You've gone and frightened him off._

“Are ye saying that we have a child?” Jamie asked at last.

“Not so much a child,” the Doctor explained. “More like genetic samples that have the potential to become a child. I froze its development as soon as I found out, I didn't think you'd want -” He broke off abruptly as Jamie half turned away from him. “Oh. Oh dear. We don't have to do anything with it, Jamie, I just thought you ought to know.”

“And if ye unfroze it?” Still Jamie would not meet his eyes.

“Well, then it would develop as normal.”

At last, Jamie glanced back towards him, almost shyly. “Can ye leave it any longer?”

“For as long as I want,” the Doctor said confusedly. “It's just waiting for the signal to keep going.”

“Would ye mind? If – if we -”

“No.” The Doctor smiled, hesitantly, but with a rush of relief. “I wouldn't mind at all, Jamie. So you do, ah, want to...”

“Aye.” Unexpectedly, marvellously, Jamie beamed at him “Well, that's that then. We'll leave the bairn for a while -”

“And tell the loom to start working when you're ready,” the Doctor finished. “I wasn't sure if you'd want this.”

Jamie simply kissed him on the cheek, and the Doctor wondered how he could ever have doubted him.


	6. Baking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

“Will you stop fussing, Jamie!” The Doctor slapped his hand away irritably. “It's meant to look like this. It's, ah, traditional.”

Jamie looked down at the cake tin dubiously. Its contents hardly resembled anything that he would call a cake, sticky and slimy and bright blue. “I still dinnae think it'll come out looking like your wee picture.”

“Oh, confound the picture,” the Doctor muttered, shoving the recipe book across the bench haphazardly. “This is the recipe I was taught by the inventor, not some cheap imitation!”

Zoe had picked up the discarded book, and was frowning at it. “Are you sure we should have added the – what did you call them? Pop rocks? I can't see them in the ingredients section.”

“Zoe!” the Doctor all but wailed. “It was a surprise!”

“Ye promised me you'd never try and get me tae eat those things again!” Taking advantage of the Doctor's sudden distraction, Jamie seized the tin and headed towards the sink. “That's it, we're startin' again.”

“But _Jamie_ -”

“And this time -” He paused, steeling himself for what he had to say. He was sure he would never hear the end of it. “We'll do _exactly_ as Zoe says.” He practically winced at Zoe's smug smile. “And get something that doesnae look like a blue bog, aye?”

“I don't see why we should,” Zoe pointed out. “If he hadn't insisted on putting the icing in with the cake mix -”

“Well, if you insist,” the Doctor interrupted. “But no complaints this time!”

“Aye, no complaints.” Jamie eyed the mess warily. “I'm sure it'll taste just fine.”

The Doctor gave them a plaintive look worthy of a small child. “All I wanted was some Venusian butter cake.”


	7. Warm sweaters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [keatulie](keatulie.tumblr.com).

Jamie paced the corridor outside the wardrobe room anxiously, sighing as yet another muffled exclamation drifted out from behind the closed door. “Doct _or_ , are ye done yet?”

“Yes, yes, nearly done,” the Doctor called back. “My goodness, I'd forgotten I had -” His voice trailed off, as if he had gotten distracted and wandered further into the corridors. With a sigh, Jamie pushed the door open and went to pull him back to the task at hand.

He found the Doctor amongst a collection of brightly-coloured feather boas, inspecting a purple and green one with interest, and frustratingly shirtless. “Oh, hello, Jamie,” the Doctor said absently. “Is something the matter?”

Suppressing a number of retorts, not all of them entirely polite, Jamie managed “you've been in here for half an hour now.”

“Have I?” The Doctor looked up at him in alarm. “But – oh, Jamie, why didn't you tell me?”

“I _am_ telling ye,” Jamie said. “Victoria will be back and waiting for us by now.”

“Oh – oh, if only I could find my shirt -” The Doctor scrabbled around on the floor for a moment, picking up a dress in triumph, then tossing it away again. “And my coat.”

“I thought we were supposed to be in disguise?” The sight of the Doctor in jeans was odd, to say the least. Without his baggy trousers, he seemed a few inches taller.

“I suppose so.” The Doctor inspected another stack of clothes, toppling it over as he pushed it away. Jamie glanced around himself, caught sight of a familiar sleeve underneath an overturned hatstand, and tugged it out, throwing it to the Doctor.

“Thank you, Jamie.” The Doctor was heading towards the doors before he had even finished buttoning up his shirt, but Jamie caught his arm.

“Ye cannae go out like that, it's freezing.”

“Well, what about you? I notice you haven't changed out of your kilt.”

“That's a matter of pride, and ye know it well.” Catching sight of something else, Jamie seized the jumper and forced it over the Doctor's head before he even had a chance to squeak out a protest. “There!”

After a few failed attempts, the Doctor's dishevelled head appeared out of the correct hole. “Jamie,” he complained, patting at his hair and pouting. “Now look what you've done.”

Privately, Jamie thought that it was something of an achievement to have made the Doctor's hair any messier than it normally was, but he kept it to himself. “Ye look like a wee mappietop.”

“A what?”

“A mappie – och, nevermind.” He settled for gathering the Doctor close and kissing his cheek, rewarded with a happy little murmur, and ruffled his hair into a more familiar pattern. “Come on, then, _mo wee mappietop_.”

“Hmph.” The Doctor frowned at him, but his eyes betrayed his amusement. He took Jamie's hand as they headed out the doors and towards the console room. “Perhaps while we're out, I shall find us some couple's jumpers.”

“Don't ye dare.”

“And I will make you wear yours.”


	8. Haunted house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Jamie...” the Doctor's tone was one that sent shivers down Jamie's spine, one that meant they were in terrible danger. “Don't move an inch.”

“What's wrong?” Jamie hissed back. The creaking, derelict room was almost too dark to see, the cobwebs in the corners catching what little light there was eerily.

“If we step on that floorboard, I think something will happen,” the Doctor whispered. “It's a different colour from the others, you see? I'm not sure it's even wooden.”

“Aye, if ye say so.” Jamie squinted at the floor, but the Doctor's superior vision had clearly given him the advantage. The Doctor shifted out of his grip, but kept a firm hold on Jamie's hand as he stepped slowly, deliberately over the board.

“Follow me, now.” The Doctor reached over to take Jamie's other hand. “Big step – yes, there we go.” They stayed in the same spot for a moment, clinging to each other, hearts pounding. “I don't know what that was, but it can't have been pleasant.”

Something down the hallway creaked, and Jamie surreptitiously pressed himself closer to the Doctor. “What is it?” he whispered. “Can ye see anything?”

“It's – oh my word.” The Doctor's eyes grew wide, and it barely took a moment for Jamie to realise what he had seen. A ghostly, glowing figure was advancing down the corridor towards them, blocking their only escape. It raised its arms – there was an unearthly shriek, something that could not have been human – Jamie leapt backwards -

There was a great crash as he stepped on the false board, and a bat swooped past their heads, chattering. The Doctor pulled Jamie back towards him, hugging him close, eyes even wider with terror. After a moment, he grinned triumphantly and shoved Jamie sideways, barrelling him through a doorway and into another, brighter room. Jamie allowed himself to be pulled along by the Doctor's momentum as he dashed through the room, down another corridor, and towards a crooked doorway, sunlight just visible through the cracks. They emerged, blinking, into a bright sunset, the open field around them bathed in orange light, seeming to set the falling leaves on the trees on fire. All around them was the chatter of people, laughter and the smell of food.

“I am _never_ doing that again,” Jamie announced, clutching his sides and breathing hard as if he had run for miles. “Never. No' even for – what did ye call it?”

“Candy floss, Jamie.” The Doctor squeezed his shoulder as he peered at the stalls nearby. “Ah yes, I can see some over there.” Jamie sighed in relief and let the Doctor take his hand to lead him further away from that fearful building. “And perhaps we can go back into the haunted house later, hmm?”

Jamie's answering glare only made the Doctor laugh harder.


	9. I have everything – I have you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

The sheer emptiness of the TARDIS was almost unsettling, its rooms devoid of light or life, its corridors stretching too far away. Numb with shock from all that had happened, now bound by invisible shackles, the Doctor felt as if he were simply another one of the ghosts. Another person who had passed through those doors, never to return.

_Where are we going, grandfather?_

_Oh, just on a little trip, my child._

_In this old TARDIS?_

_Eh? TARDIS? What’s that?_

_It’s this machine. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. Don’t you like it?_

Susan was gone now, first to arrive and first to leave. Gone to something better, or so he hoped. Not like some of the others. Not like -

Suddenly choked with memories, he stumbled into the corridor. No. No good. More ghosts passing by him, in and out of doorways, whispering to him, to themselves, to each other – _where’ve we landed this time, Doctor? – never knows where he’s going – never going to get us home – what’s in here? – come and look at this- have you seen her? – she’s in the library I think_ \- on and on and on, more of a prison than any the Time Lords could ever trap him in.

He stumbled, falling to the floor with a bump and a tiny whimper of pain. “Jamie?” he called out.

_Aye, I’m here, Doctor_. He found himself on his feet, but when he reached out to touch Jamie’s arm, there was only empty space. “Jamie!”

But Jamie was gone too, now, faded away like smoke, or the Highland mist that had enveloped his form on the video link. There was no one to catch him when he fell.

He heard Zoe’s voice drifting out from a laboratory, the door slightly ajar. _Doctor? I think I’ve found something interesting_. “Not now, Zoe,” he begged, pushing himself on, wanting only the oblivion of sleep. His nerves felt as if they were on fire, and he could not remember a time without the pain in his head, where he could see clearly, understand what was going on around him, get the voices out of his head. “Please...” The ghosts would not hear him. “Leave me alone!” Still they swirled around him, feeling as viscous as honey as he made his way past. Occasionally he recognised one, reaching out towards them, before they vanished into the crowd without a trace or even a memory of who he had seen.

The ghosts only vanished when he shut the bedroom door behind him, leaning on it, breathing heavily. His head felt clearer, his vision no longer fogged over but bringing everything into sharp relief, so focused that it almost hurt. It was only when his breathing steadied that he realised where he had brought himself. His eyes caught on every detail, each one a twist of the knife in his heart.

_Ye should really clean up, ye know._ Tartan wool spilled out of the wardrobe, keeping the door ajar enough for a precarious pile of clothes to be visible inside. _I cannae even tell which of these shirts is mine._

_Does it matter?_

_It’s very pretty. – Don’t you like it? – Aren’t bracelets meant tae be something you give to lassies? – Here._ Sliding the plain metal around Jamie’s wrist, Jamie’s lips on his forehead, smiles spreading across both of their faces. _I do like it._ The bracelet now abandoned on Jamie’s bedside table, where he had left it that morning, so long ago and yet so recent.

He sank down onto the bed, almost feeling the mattress dip at the memory of Jamie flopping down beside him, sighing in contentment. _Don’t I even get a kiss goodnight? – Och, well, if ye will ask so nicely…_ He ran a finger over his lips at the memory, at the echo of their laughter, Jamie propped up on his chest, his wedding ring dangling from its string, warm and smooth against his throat as they kissed. Warm. The warmth of Jamie in his arms as they slept.

His own cry, a faint image of himself sitting up, hugging himself after a bad dream. The rustle of sheets. Jamie woken by the sound of distress, pulling him close. _What’s wrong, leannan? What did ye see?_ Cities burning and metal monsters and silver leaves beneath orange skies and a thousand things he could never come close to describing. _It’s not important. – If you’re sure. Do ye need anything? – I have everything. I have you._

“Jamie?” he whispered again, plaintively, hoping against all hope for a reply, even if it was just a ghost. But this time, there was none to be heard. Wrapping himself in the blankets tightly, he buried his face in Jamie’s pillow. _I have you._ But Jamie was gone, even his memories taken. He would not be haunted by ghosts.

One final whisper, infinitely sad in the darkness, murmured while Jamie slept peacefully beside him.

_I don’t know what I’d do without you._


	10. “I finally found something I’m better in than you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [thescarletpaperback](thescarletpaperback.tumblr.com).

“Looks like I finally found something I’m better at than ye.”

The Doctor huffed, looking as cross as if Jamie had insulted him. “I’m sure he’ll come around soon enough.” He frowned at the baby in Jamie’s arms. “Are you sure he’s meant to be that small?”

“I think so.” Jamie held the baby out towards the Doctor. “Would ye like tae hold him?”

“Oh – oh, Jamie, I don’t think -” The Doctor gave a little squeak of alarm as he took the baby. “My word. He _is_ small.” He tapped at the baby’s tiny nose, making him scrunch up his face, yawning, chubby fingers grasping at the Doctor’s shirt clumsily. “That’s it. You sleep now.”

“He’ll want fed,” Jamie pointed out. “How are we going to feed him?”

“Oh, I expect the TARDIS can synthesise something for him.” The Doctor was too preoccupied with the baby to even glance up at Jamie. “Try setting G26 on the food machine, that ought to give you something.” He bounced the baby in his arms gently. “Yes, I think I’m getting the hang of this.”

“Aye, he’s stopped crying now.” Jamie paused. “Ye do know that he’ll need changed soon, right?” He stifled his laughter as the Doctor tried to press the baby back into his arms. “Why’re ye – why’s changing the baby my job?”

“He’s your baby!” The Doctor looked down at his clothes. “How much of a mess does it make?”

“Dinnae ask me.”

“I thought you knew!”

“I don’t know everything!”

The Doctor sighed heavily. “I thought we knew what we were getting into.”


	11. “Can I kiss you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Now, you see, if I connect these two wires, the fluid links will -” The Doctor paused, the loose ends of the wires he was holding still suspended an inch away from each other, his lips parted but no sound emerging, as if he had been frozen. Jamie hurriedly attempted to assume an interested expression, trying to pretend that he understood, or at least that he had been giving the Doctor his full attention. “Why are you looking at me like that, Jamie?”

He should have known the Doctor was far too clever to fall for that. “Like what?” he asked innocently, fully expecting the Doctor to lose interest once he put up any resistance, to go back to his circuits and his mercury and be done with it.

“Like this.” The Doctor leant on the console in imitation, giving Jamie his silliest, sappiest smile.

“I dinnae make that face!” Jamie protested.

“You certainly do.”

“When have I ever -”

“Just then,” the Doctor pointed out. “And last night."

“I wasnae making that face last night,” Jamie insisted. “Just because you’re daft enough tae leave a bunch of flowers on my pillow doesn’t mean I’m mooning after ye like some – like some love-struck lassie!” The Doctor was giving him a knowing look, surreptitiously shuffling closer, clearly thinking that his efforts went unnoticed. “Och, fine. Can I kiss you?”

The Doctor beamed. “You could have just asked, you know.” Jamie grinned back, reaching out to take the Doctor’s wrists and draw him close enough to lean down and kiss him. He was hardly aware of his eyes falling closed, the Doctor slipping his hands out of his grip to sling his arms around Jamie’s shoulders.

“Wee daftie,” he murmured. The Doctor pulled away, kissing his nose playfully.

“But I’m _your_ wee daftie.” A hiss and a crackle made him whirl around, eyes widening in panic at the sight of his wires, discarded and smoking on the console. “Oh, my word! Quickly, Jamie, if I don’t fix this the ship could invert itself!”

“Eh?”

“She’ll send us all out into the vortex, now hurry!”


	12. “Don’t panic but I think we might have accidentally gotten married…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailion.tumblr.com).

The Doctor came into wakefulness slowly, almost gently, squeezing his eyes shut and stretching like a sleepy cat. He was curled in a warm, comfortable bed, with Jamie draped contentedly over his chest and making little sleepy noises that meant he was already half-conscious, and -

He clapped a hand over his eyes as the sudden burst of sunlight made his head pound. He felt suddenly dizzy, as if someone had reached into his mind and scrambled it all while he slept, and found that he had no memory of the previous night. Little flashes of recollection seemed to slip past him, too quick to catch, too small to put a complete picture together. He managed to scrape together enough control over his limbs to carefully push Jamie away from him and stagger out of bed, leaning heavily on the doorframe. The food machine ought to have something. Setting K2-74 should do the trick.

Blinking in confusion, he registered his surroundings for the first time. This was not their bedroom – nor was he looking out into the corridors of the TARDIS.

“Jamie?” he called out uncertainly, somehow fearing that Jamie had disappeared, wondering if he had really woken at all.

“Mmph,” came the quiet reply. “M’ sleeping.”

“Yes, yes, I can see that,” the Doctor said impatiently. He pressed his fingers to his temples, trying to massage away the hammering. “Ouch. _Jamie_.”

Jamie sat up abruptly at his whimper of pain, eyes still half-closed. He looked the Doctor up and down for a moment, as if assessing him. “Och, you’re fine. It’s only a wee hangover.”

Before the Doctor could explain their situation, he had slumped back down onto the pillows and was fast asleep again. But that absent insight had caused some curtain to lift in his mind. He remembered them landing in London – Ben insisting that they stop at a pub, the others asking why the Doctor seemed unaffected by alcohol and pressing a glass of something gingery into his hands. He stumbled back to the bed, all but tripping into it, and was immediately greeted with Jamie wrapping his arms around him tightly.

“I suppose this is a hotel we found,” he murmured, half to himself. Another flash – himself fumbling in his pockets for some even marginally familiar currency, leaning on Jamie, both of them giggling madly. “You know, I’m surprised they let us in.” Jamie mumbled something sleepily, and the Doctor kissed the top of his head. “Yes, my dear.” The iron grip he was held in tightened affectionately at the response. He let his head fall back against the pillows, intending to go back to sleep and deal with this mess when his headache abated, but his eyes caught on a flash of silver on the bedside table. “Jamie?”

“Mm?”

“Jamie, wake up!” Jamie was properly awoken by the urgency in his voice this time, his eyes bright and scanning for some danger. “Now, don’t panic, but there’s just a chance that we’ve accidentally gotten married.”

“Oh, aye.” Jamie thought it over for a moment. “What?”

“See for yourself.” The Doctor reached over to take the rings, dropping them into Jamie’s palm delicately, as if they might burn him. He stared down at them for a long time, his expression unreadable. The Doctor wondered if he shouldn’t have tucked the rings away in a pocket and never mentioned any of this, if it wasn’t what Jamie wanted, if he’d somehow offended or upset him. He was so lost in his own turmoil of growing regrets that he almost missed the quiet sound of Jamie’s voice. “I always thought I’d remember my own wedding day, ye ken.”

“It’s only legally binding here – that is to say, it, ah, wasn’t real, was it?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“Well, seeing as neither of us remember -” The Doctor sighed. “I am sorry, Jamie. This was never my intention -”

“So ye didn’t really mean it?” Jamie sounded alarmingly sad at the prospect.

“Oh.” Now it was the Doctor’s turn to stare down at the rings. “You mean you – are you quite sure, Jamie?”

“I’ll put it this way.” Jamie took one of the rings and slid it onto the Doctor’s finger carefully, as if he were something delicate that might be broken if the ring touched him in the wrong way. “I dinnae mind.” He grinned, leaning up to touch their foreheads together. “You’re blushing.”

 

“I don’t blush.” The Doctor did the only thing he could think of – dipped his head forward to kiss Jamie, delightfully familiar and indefinably, unavoidably new, all at the same time. “But I suppose...” He placed the remaining ring onto Jamie’s finger in return, feeling a rush of happiness at Jamie’s proud smile. “If you insist.”

“That’s that, then.”

“That’s that.” Plucking a shirt off the ground at random, he tossed it at Jamie, ignoring his splutters of protest as it landed on his head. He had no idea whether or not the shirt was Jamie’s – but he supposed it hardly mattered. “Time to find the others, I think.”

“And find the TARDIS.” Jamie paused, biting his lip. “Do ye know where we are?”

“No,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “I expect we’ll figure it out.”

Jamie grinned at the flash of the wedding ring on the Doctor’s finger as he buttoned his own shirt. “Aye, I suppose we will.”


	13. “I will knock you on your ass if you even think about it."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for [thescarletpaperback](thescarletpaperback.tumblr.com).

“You’re going _where_?” Jamie’s voice was quiet, but the note in it was no less dangerous.

“Ah, to the upper level of the station?” The Doctor clasped his hands together and smiled innocently.

“The upper level.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The place ye specifically told me not to go.”

“Well, that was before -”

“I said I’d knock ye out if ye even thought about it.”

“You didn’t mean that seriously, did you?” the Doctor asked anxiously.

Jamie hesitated, and for a moment the Doctor thought he might just make good on his word. “No, I didn’t,” he said at last. “It’d be for your own good, though.”

“I’m sure it would be.” The Doctor tugged at the tangle of wires on the table, pulling out the ones he needed and draping them around his neck like a scarf. He tucked the transmitter into one of the voluminous pockets of his coat and set off towards the ladder. “Just hold the fort, would you?” He nodded to the blaster in Jamie’s hand. “And be careful. One misfire and that’ll bring the whole structure down on top of us, and then we’d be even worse off!”

Jamie reached out and caught his hand before he could scramble up the ladder, his expression determined but his eyes bright with worry. “What if they hit the satellite?”

The Doctor had been trying not to think about that. If he was not lucky enough to be killed by the blast, he was sure to be sucked out into the vacuum of space. His respiratory bypass system might save him from suffocating, but he was not sure his body could take the pressure change – and did he really want to live for a few more minutes, watching the space station be blown to pieces, wondering exactly what blast had killed Jamie? “There’s an automatic air bubble that should shield you from the impact,” he managed, squeezing Jamie’s hand and trying to smile encouragingly. “That might just give you enough time to get to the TARDIS. She’ll protect you.”

“What about ye?” Jamie said quietly.

Pressing one last kiss to Jamie’s forehead and ruffling his hair, the Doctor began to climb. “Hold the fort,” he repeated. “Quickly, now, they’re coming back again.”

“Doctor -”

Slamming down the button that would seal off the satellite from the lower levels, the Doctor watched the heavy sheet of metal grind into place, blocking Jamie from his sight. Onwards and upwards, then. He could only hope that the others down below would make it, even if he did not.


	14. “Are you ticklish?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Why are we goin’ this way?”

“It’s perfectly nice, isn’t it?” The Doctor snatched the map away from Jamie’s grasp. “We’ll make it back to Victoria in plenty of time, don’t you worry.”

“I’m not worried.” Jamie frowned out at the ocean, as if it were the cause of all his concern. “Hey, what’s the time again?”

“It’s only one o’clock,” the Doctor said patiently. “We’ll be early if you keep going like that, and then we’ll be standing around waiting, and – and then you’ll fuss more. Can’t we just enjoy a nice walk for once?”

“Something terrible will happen,” Jamie muttered darkly. “It always does. Sometimes I don’t know why I love ye.”

“Because I’m so irresistibly charming.”

“If ye say so.”

“Oh, you -” Assuming a mock-offended expression, the Doctor poked Jamie in the side, freezing at Jamie’s alarmed squeak. “Are you ticklish?”

“No!”

“You are!” The Doctor grabbed for Jamie’s waist, Jamie pushing his hands away and laughing. A few passers-by gave them odd looks, but they hardly noticed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew you’d do this?” Jamie suggested. He finally managed to grab hold of the Doctor’s hands and hold them still. “Come on, we really will be late if ye keep going like this. Ye can tickle me later.”

The Doctor smirked. “Is that a promise?”

“Och – fine. But I get to be the big spoon tonight.”

It took only a moment for the Doctor to debate the relative merits of each option. “If you insist.” It was a blow, but one that was more than made up for by the prospect of Jamie laughing like that again. And if he was particularly clever, he might even succeed in getting a few extra things into the bargain. “Come along, then. I’ll buy you an ice cream.” He paused, as if for dramatic effect. “Can I hold your hand, too?”

“Och, if you insist” Jamie repeated, grinning and holding out his hand.


	15. "The only thing I want is you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Zoe, would you mind going and checking those readings?”

“Would you like a constant feed of the changes?” Zoe asked, already tapping at the screens on the walls. “I can set it up from here.”

“No, no, just call out if any of the needles move into the red.” The Doctor flitted about, hands flying, moving pieces of equipment from one shelf to another hurriedly. He had been directing everyone and distributing tasks and bundles of machinery for the past few hours, standing amidst the bustle of activity like a conductor. With Zoe headed off to watch her dials and metres, he was left alone with Jamie, and he seemed to shrink with exhaustion, curling in on himself even as he still fiddled with the wires trailing out of the walls.

“Can ye stop us from crashing?” Jamie asked anxiously.

“Of course I can!” the Doctor snapped. His gaze softened, the apology unspoken but no less clear. “There’s, ah, at least an eighty percent chance that I’ll be able to get us down safely.” His trembling fingers made two wires touch together, hissing and making him yelp with the shock. “Ouch! Perhaps… perhaps a seventy percent chance.”

Jamie was at his side in a moment, resting one hand over the Doctor’s back, examining his hand anxiously. “You’re tired,” he pointed out.

“I don’t get tired.” The Doctor hid a yawn behind his sleeve, tossing his head as if to clear his mind. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“Ye do realise that only works on other people?”

“Does it?”

“Aye. People who ye don’t sleep next to most nights. Even Zoe might believe that, if ye tried hard enough, but I don’t.”

“Well, it hardly matters, I suppose. We’ve only got a few more hours to go, at any rate.”

“Do ye want anything?” The Doctor had been so busy taking control before the crew realised he was anything other than obtrusive that he seemed to have forgotten about himself as completely as the others. “They did offer ye some of that coffee earlier, but I dinnae remember where they said it was.”

“In the kitchen, on the third shelf next to the fridge,” the Doctor said absently. “I’m quite alright. The only thing I want is you.” He paused, letting his own words sink in. “Ah – what I mean is -”

Jamie grinned at the Doctor’s slowly reddening cheeks. “I know what ye meant.”

“Of course, if you happened to choose to interpret that _another_ way -” The Doctor turned, pulling Jamie in close by the waist until their noses were just brushing. “Well, I couldn’t fault you on that either.”

“Ye dinnae really mean that.”

“I do.” The Doctor tapped Jamie’s nose, making him scrunch his face up, still smiling. “You don’t really believe that I don’t mean that, do you? Not after all this time. You know there’s no one else I’d rather have here, not like this.”

“I wouldn’t have married ye if I didn’t think ye meant it.” Jamie wriggled out of the Doctor’s grip carefully, spinning him around and pushing him back towards his work. “On ye go. Make sure we don’t crash, then.”

“All the needles are moving into the red, Doctor!” Zoe called over to them. “If we don’t pull up soon, the g-forces will kill us before we’re anywhere near the ground!”

The Doctor smiled as if he had just received the best news he had heard all week, his eyes lighting up in that way they did when he was facing some new and exhilarating challenge, any trace of tiredness vanished. “Sixty-five percent chance, Jamie. Pass the flux metre, will you?”


	16. “your feet are cold.”/“i’m cold.”/“you’re a good pillow.”/“why can’t you ever just lay still?”/“are you shivering?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

Jamie glanced around the bare room, taking in the small cot and the threadbare blanket, the cupboard doors ripped from their hinges, the empty fireplace. “Looks like someone’s been here.”

“One of the Blizzard’s followers, I shouldn’t wonder,” the Doctor said. “See, they’ve broken all the fire tools, and the chimney’s blocked.” He gestured to the bent iron and cinders littering the floor. “There’s no good in even trying to light a fire. We’ll just have to wait until it passes over us.”

“Hey, do ye think anyone’s going to come back?” Jamie tugged aside a nearby curtain, wrenching it back into position as bright white light flooded the room.

“No. No, I don’t think so. They’ve done their work here. Anyway, I doubt even they could pass through the Blizzard when it’s on the warpath. It’ll destroy indiscriminately when it’s like this.”

“Aye, well, I hope you’re right.” The Doctor wrapped his coat more tightly around himself. “Are ye shivering?”

“Ah – well, you see, Jamie, my people don’t cope with the cold quite so well as you do.” The Doctor protested at Jamie bundling him towards the bed and wrapping him in the blanket as best as he could. “Jamie, this really isn’t – well, it will hardly make much difference when the next segment passes over, I doubt this will protect us when it starts raining ice.”

“You’re the only one who knows how yon wee gadget works.” Jamie nodded towards the box cradled in the Doctor’s arms.

“Oh, I see. You’re being noble for the sake of the cause, re you?” The Doctor gave a weak smile. “And here I was thinking you cared.”

“Of course I – och, come here.” Jamie sat beside the Doctor, ostensibly to unlace his boots, then rolled him into his arms, laughing at his alarmed squeaks despite himself. “Are ye nice and warm now?”

The Doctor was quiet for a moment, squirming in Jamie’s arms to find a comfortable position. “You make a nice pillow, you know,” he said suddenly. “Have I ever told you that?”

“It’s meant tae be a love confession, ye ken,” Jamie pointed out.

“Hm?”

“Like this, at the end of the world. Isn’t it meant tae be a dramatic declaration of love? That’s what those wee moving pictures Ben and Polly used tae watch always said.”

“It would be no good confessing something the other person already knows,” the Doctor said reasonably. He peered at Jamie’s watch, his eyes flickering, following the seconds hand around.

“Do ye think it’s passed over the peak yet?”

“It’ll be another few hours before that happens, I expect.” The Doctor yawned, his eyes slipping closed. There was a rustle of blanket against skin for a moment, until he stilled, eliciting a cry of discomfort from Jamie.

“Your feet are cold,” he grumbled.

“ _I’m_ cold,” the Doctor whined, burrowing further into the blankets until only a mop of dark hair was visible. “And you’re just so warm.”

“Not for much longer, I’d wager. Hey, what’re ye – can’t ye ever just lie still?”

The Doctor huffed, seeming to finally settle himself in. “Wake me in a couple of hours,” he mumbled. “If I can sink into a quasi-hibernal sleep, I might just see this through.”

“Aye, alright.” Jamie kissed the Doctor’s forehead absently. “Hey, Doctor, how’re we going tae -” A loud snore punctuated his words. “Och, alright. Sleep doesnae sound like such a bad idea.”


	17. “stop kicking me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [keatulie](keatulie.tumblr.com).

A sharp blow startled the Doctor into wakefulness, shoving him towards the edge of the bed, the spot on his thigh where he had been struck aching painfully. He curled in on himself instinctively, cocooning the blankets around himself as if trying to form some sort of shield. In the haze of half-consciousness, he wondered if he was being attacked by something, and did the only thing he could think of. “Jamie!” Another blow, this time to his hip, delivered with more force. “Jamie?”

He managed to haul himself upright, blinking to clear his vision, seeing nothing but a dark bedroom, Jamie sprawled out beside him. A bad dream, he supposed. And a particularly vivid one, at that.

Before he could roll over and fall back asleep, Jamie lashed out, his knuckles just brushing the Doctor’s side, and it took only a moment’s thought to put two and two together. “Will you stop kicking me, Jamie!” he said irritably. “This is very bad form, you know. Ouch!”

Stirring at his exclamation, Jamie began to mumble in return, almost painfully, as if the words were being dragged out of him by some unseen force. “No… don’t hurt him, please! Ye promised not tae hurt him!”

“Oh. Oh, no.” The Doctor reached over to tap Jamie in the side sharply. “Jamie! Wake up, Jamie, it’s alright. You’re in the TARDIS, you’re safe. There’s nothing here that’s going to hurt either of us.” He nudged at Jamie again, leaning away as Jamie lunged towards him.

Jamie’s eyes snapped open, and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief until he saw Jamie focusing in on him, clearly registering only a dark shape looming over him. He fumbled on the bedside table as if trying to curl his fingers around the familiar shape of a knife hilt, then threw himself towards the Doctor, a fierce light in his eyes. The Doctor scrambled away, rolling off the bed with a thump, and all but crawled to the other side of the room. Unable to see his target, his eyes not yet adjusted to the darkness, Jamie paused, one hand still raised as if to strike something. There was a long silence.

“Doctor?” he said quietly. “Are ye there?”

“Y – yes, Jamie, I’m here.” The Doctor picked himself up off the floor, making his way towards Jamie tentatively. “Are you alright now?”

“Aye, I think so.” Jamie reached out towards the Doctor, looking up at him pleadingly, and the Doctor sat beside him and pulled him half into his lap, making soothing noises and rubbing Jamie’s back carefully. “Did I wake ye?”

The Doctor hesitated, unsure how exactly to explain it all to Jamie. “Well, yes, but it’s quite alright,” he said at last.

Jamie nodded. “Thank ye,” he said at last. “For waking me.”

“Well – well, you did ask me to -” The Doctor sighed. “I didn’t do a very good job, did I?”

“Ye did fine.” Jamie curled around him more, fingers digging into his sides, and the Doctor let him ground himself. Only when Jamie touched one of the places he had struck earlier did he flinch away, hissing in pain. “Doctor? Are ye alright?”

“Fine!” The Doctor bundled Jamie out of his lap and sprang up, making for the door. “I could go and get you something warm to drink if you want,” he offered, just a touch too loudly, too cheerily.

“No!” Jamie exclaimed. “I dinnae want – if the others saw – och, just come back tae bed.”

“Now, Jamie, I’m sure Ben and Polly wouldn’t think any less of you if they knew,” the Doctor said patiently, sitting down beside Jamie again. “You’ve seen some terrible things, it’s quite understandable that you’d have nightmares.”

Jamie had stopped paying attention, occupied instead with gently tracing his fingers over the spot he had touched before. “I did this to ye,” he murmured regretfully.

“You did,” the Doctor admitted. “But it’s not like you _meant_ it, Jamie. I’m quite alright.”

“Are ye sure?” Jamie brushed his fingers over the Doctor’s skin again.

“It’s me who’s meant to be looking after you, you know,” the Doctor said softly. Jamie leant down to kiss the spot tenderly, brushing his lips over a sensitive spot to make the Doctor’s breath hitch ever so slightly. “There. All better. Now come back to bed, hm? I won’t let anything happen to you.” Jamie allowed himself to be gently manoeuvred back under the covers, smiling as the Doctor fussed and smoothed the blankets over his chest. “There, now.” Jamie yawned and rolled over to nuzzle into the pillow, reaching out to tug the Doctor close. “Yes, yes, I’m coming.”

“Doctor?”

“Mm?”

“If I have another nightmare -”

“Then I shall be sure to wake you up.” The Doctor kissed his forehead, pulling Jamie securely against his chest.

“Goodnight, Doctor.”

“Sweet dreams, Jamie.”


	18. "a kiss at a NYE party"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

“Jamie?” The Doctor peered into the kitchen curiously, smiling when he saw Jamie standing at the window, reflections of fireworks glinting in his eyes. “Ah. Ben and Polly said you were in here. Everyone else is upstairs, you know, getting ready for midnight, so I thought you might want to come and join us.”

“Oh.” Jamie shook his head slightly. “I think I’ll stay down here, if ye don’t mind.”

The Doctor frowned. Nothing seemed to have happened – but it was hardly as if he had kept his eye on Jamie for the whole time, he told himself. There might have been moments when his concern had slipped. “Is something wrong?”

Shrugging, Jamie gestured towards the window. “I just dinnae really like the noise, that’s all.”

“Ah.” The Doctor hesitated, then moved over to wrap his arm around Jamie’s shoulders. “I am sorry, Jamie, I just didn’t think -”

“It’s alright. It’s quiet enough in here.”

Unsure what to say to that, the Doctor simply nodded. They remained in silence for some time, Jamie watching the fireworks, the Doctor watching Jamie, feeling him tense with every explosion. Distance muffled the sounds coming from upstairs, reducing them to faint voices and the pounding of loud music. The Doctor was rather glad to be away from all of that himself, truth be told. He was quite happy to discover that he had landed on New Year’s Eve and invite himself to the nearest large party, but the barrage of noise and people could easily overwhelm his heightened senses. No, it was much more peaceful to stay downstairs for a while – and having Jamie at his side like this was an unexpected bonus.

“Must be almost midnight,” Jamie said quietly. The Doctor gave a murmur of agreement.

“The fireworks may – ah – get rather louder than they are now,” he warned.

“Oh.” The Doctor saw nervousness still evident in Jamie’s eyes, a slight skittishness in his expression, as if he were ready to bolt at any moment. He grinned, but could not entirely mask his worry. “I wonder if Ben’s going tae work up the courage to kiss Polly.”

The Doctor chuckled. “I should hope so. They’ve been dancing around each other for long enough, don’t you think?” He hesitated. Was it wise to press on, to say such a thing, knowing full well the nature of his feelings. “They, ah – they told you about the tradition, then?”

“Aye.” Jamie pulled a face, frowning and scrunching up his nose in that way of his that meant he was struggling to comprehend something. “I like travelling with ye, and I like Ben and Polly, ye know I do, but -”

“But everything’s so different, and you feel like you’ll never catch up?”

Jamie stared at him, his expression suddenly open, attentive. The others were curious about the Doctor’s past, naturally, but not in the way Jamie was, focusing in on the slightest detail that he might let slip. “How did ye know?”

“I felt like that, once,” the Doctor admitted. “A long time ago.” He smiled a little sadly. “I was old, then.”

“Och, sometimes ye dinnae make any sense.” Jamie swayed a little, bumping his hip against the Doctor’s in a way that was both reassuringly fond and startlingly comfortable. Intimate, even.

“I – I don’t mean to confuse you, you know,” the Doctor stammered. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just rather complicated.”

Jamie hummed in agreement, his gaze wandering from the Doctor’s face to the ceiling at the sound of more cheers, footsteps heading back inside from the balcony. “New year’s day, he said quietly.”

“Yes, it must be.” The Doctor turned, putting his hands on Jamie’s shoulders, looking up as if he could see the people above them. He gradually became aware of Jamie watching him with an odd intensity, of how close they were. Of them both leaning in, narrowing the distance further until their lips brushed together, Jamie’s hands going to his waist, his own eyes falling closed. They kissed until the sound of the fireworks died down and Jamie pulled away, resting their foreheads together as he caught his breath, their noses bumping a little. The Doctor’s eyes remained closed, but somehow he knew Jamie was smiling. “Oh.”

“Oh,” Jamie echoed. “Does this mean ye -”

“Yes – that is, if you -”

Footsteps in the hallway made them spring apart guiltily, Jamie clearing his throat and turning back to the window, the Doctor twisting his hands together awkwardly. Ben appeared in the doorway a moment later, looking rather pleased with himself, his hair sticking up at odd angles. “It’s past midnight,” he announced.

“We know,” the Doctor said. “We’ve – well, I suppose you could say that we’ve been having our own celebration down here, haven’t we, Jamie?”

“Does that mean we’ll be going soon?” Polly poked her head around the corner. “Oh! Are you feeling better down here, Jamie?”

“You’re welcome to head back to the TARDIS if you’re all done here,” the Doctor said hurriedly, sensing Jamie’s rising embarrassment. “We’ll follow you in a few minutes.”

Polly glanced between them, nodding in dawning comprehension. “Come on, Ben,” she said quietly, tugging at his sleeve. “Let’s leave them to it.”

The Doctor laid a hand on Jamie’s back as Ben and Polly left. “Are you quite alright, Jamie?”

Jamie nodded, still not meeting his eyes. “Aye, I’ll be fine. Would ye -” He hesitated, as if trying to figure out precisely what he wanted. “Would ye do it again?”

The Doctor beamed, leaning in to kiss him, letting himself be drawn close.


	19. a surprise kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Will you stop making that noise, Jamie!” The Doctor bustled around the console, flicking switches seemingly at random. “I am _trying_ to concentrate.”

“I’m – _hic_ – sorry, Doctor,” Jamie said sheepishly. “I just – _hic_ – I dinnae ken how tae stop it.”

The Doctor considered this for a moment. The human respiratory system was so fragile, so prone to error, whether it be life-threatening or just a minor inconvenience, like this one. And it was particularly persistent in going wrong at precisely the wrong moment. He was trying to carry out an immensely complex and delicate operation, and if he failed, there was a high chance of them all being plunged into the time vortex, with no protection from the time winds. And yet Jamie insisted on hovering around and hiccuping, of all things.

He sighed heavily. “Have you tried drinking a glass of water?” Jamie shook his head. “Sugar? Honey? Hot sauce? Breathing into a paper bag?”

“Are ye – _hic_ – sure those are real cures, Doctor?” Jamie looked sceptical. The Doctor blinked at him in surprise. He would have thought that Jamie would put at least some stock in simple home remedies, given his time period. “I just thought ye might have some – _hic_ – some magic space pills, and I’d -”

The Doctor chuckled. “Nothing like that, I’m afraid. You see, hiccups are caused by involuntary spasms of the diaphragm – synchronous diaphragmatic flutter, they call it – it’s not something that can be fixed with medicine like that. Thought if it doesn’t stop after a certain period of time, we might want to -”

“Oh, aye.” Jamie bit his lip. “So can ye fix it”

“Well…” The Doctor twisted his hands together. “It _is_ often said that a shock can help.”

“Eh?”

“Just close your eyes.” Jamie did so, but his expression betrayed more than a little reluctance. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Och, just get – _hic_ – on with it.”

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, second-guessing his plan, then leant in and kissed him. Jamie stiffened, not kissing back but not moving away either, as if he was torn, unsure what he wanted. Just as the Doctor was about to pull away, to try and salvage whatever he could of their friendship from the wreckage of his own bad judgement, Jamie kissed back, his hands settling tentatively on the Doctor’s waist. Somehow, this acknowledgement was too much for the Doctor, and he broke the kiss. It suggested returned feelings of a sort which he was still nervous about acknowledging. Jamie’s eyes remained closed, his lips slightly parted, a faraway expression on his face. The silence stretched out between them, neither of them wanting to break it and face the implications of what they had done.

Jamie opened his eyes, looked up at the Doctor – and hiccuped again.

They burst out laughing in the same instant, Jamie’s hand finding the Doctor’s and squeezing it almost instinctively. The Doctor’s laughter faded before Jamie’s did, and he found himself unable to meet Jamie’s gaze. “I am sorry, Jamie,” he said at last. “I shouldn’t have – I should have asked before I did something as drastic as kissed you, that was -”

“Nice.” Jamie looked almost as surprised as the Doctor did, but he pressed on. “I dinnae mind. It’s no’ as if I havenae been imagining what id’ be like tae kiss ye for weeks now. I never thought ye could feel – I still don’t know if ye feel the same way.” He gave a wry smile. “But at least I dinnae have to imagine anymore, aye?”

The Doctor was silent for a long moment, trying to gather his messy bundle of emotions and form them into a coherent sentence. “I rather thought I’d given my feelings away some time ago.”

“Oh.”

“What do we do now?” The Doctor’s voice was barely more than a whisper, as if he were afraid that speaking any louder would shatter the tenuous connection forming between them.

“I don’t – _hic_.” Jamie bit his lip, smiling up at the Doctor in a way that made his heart tighten in his chest. “Your surprise didnae work.”

“Well, it was a long shot.” The Doctor’s breath caught in his throat as Jamie took his free hand.

“Maybe ye could try again?”

“I – I don’t think it would do much good. It wouldn’t be a surprise this time.”

“We willnae know unless ye try.”

“Oh! Oh, well, I suppose not.” The Doctor twitched his fingers, wanting to clasp his hands together in a nervous reflex, but unwilling to relinquish Jamie’s grip. “Jamie, can I – that is, would you – mmph!”

Jamie leant in and kissed him, and all his nervousness vanished, evaporated in the warmth spreading through him like dewdrops in the sun.


	20. after a long discussion of what a kiss might feel like

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“They can’t be.”

“They are.”

The Doctor poked his head out between the waxy, blue fronds of the plant concealing him. “My word, you’re right. How do they keep it up without a respiratory bypass system?”

Jamie tugged him back by the shoulder of his coat, sending him sprawling almost into his lap. “They’ll see,” he hissed. “And I dinnae think we should be doing this. It feels a wee bit like spying. They came into the gardens to be private, remember?”

“They’re far too busy to notice us,” the Doctor pointed out. “Anyway, it was your idea.”

“Aye, to see if they’d finally sort it out, then _leave_ , not tae – tae sit here watching them!” Despite his misgivings, Jamie leant around a tree trunk to see for himself. “They’ve stopped.” Ben and Polly were no longer kissing, but had their foreheads pressed together, their bashful smiles obvious even at this distance. He was pleased for them – it had taken long enough for them to work out their feelings – but a part of him could not help but be jealous, especially with the Doctor sitting so close. It would be easy to just lean over and kiss him, to be honest about the growing strength of his feelings, and yet it would almost certainly shatter everything they had.

“I can’t say I see the appeal of it,” the Doctor said, almost as if he had heard Jamie’s thoughts.

“Of kissing?”

“Mm. My people don’t do it, you see. Touch telepathy does tend to put a damper on physical affection. It was quite a shock coming to Earth for the first time, you know.”

“Have ye never wanted tae try it?” Jamie winced at his own impulsive curiosity.

“I rather thought it would be better with the right person.” The Doctor was watching him carefully, with something Jamie did not dare label as hope. Wishful thinking, he told himself. “But I must admit to, ah – a certain curiosity.”

“Aye, well, maybe one day.” The Doctor’s expression turned to something akin to wistfulness, and Jamie had to look away, glancing back through the leaves screening them from view.

“What’s it like?”

“Eh?”

“To kiss someone.”

“You’d be better off asking Ben and Polly.” Jamie nodded towards them.

“Oh.” The Doctor considered this for a moment. ‘You’ve never...” Jamie shrugged. “Have you ever wanted to?”

“Last time didnae work out so well.” He was grateful that the Doctor seemed to see some shadow passing over his face, and understood that pressing him for answers would not be well-received.

“And what about this time?” he asked softly. Jamie’s eyes widened in alarm, and he turned to stare at the Doctor in astonishment. “Oh – oh, dear, Jamie, have I misread the situation? I thought you meant to indicate that -” He wrung his hands together. “I do seem to have ruined this, don’t I?”

Jamie reached out, taking his hands to still them. “You’ve no’ ruined anything.” In unison, they looked up from their joined hands to meet each other’s eyes. Jamie felt oddly breathless, as if they had kissed already, or perhaps as if he had run a long distance. “Ye said ye were curious.”

“I – I did, didn’t I?”

Once again, it seemed as if it would be perfectly simple to move in for a kiss. Jamie knew that there had been occasions where they had been this close before, but none like this, with the Doctor looking at him so openly, their hands still clasped together. “Would ye like to try?”

Silence hung between them, as delicate as if they were balancing it on a thread, careful equilibrium held on a knife’s edge. The Doctor nodded, so slightly Jamie could almost have convinced himself that he had imagined it, but he found himself leaning in anyway, the Doctor doing the same. They jerked away when their noses bumped together, dissolving into nervous, embarrassed laughter.

Gathering his resolve, Jamie reached up to cup the Doctor’s face, gently guiding him closer. “Here.” He brushed their lips together, just for a moment, the Doctor kissing back a little clumsily, then pulled away, searching the Doctor’s face anxiously. “I didnae really mean tae – that was -”

“Rather nice,” the Doctor said quietly. He looked up at Jamie, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “You know, I, ah, stand by what I said before.”

“What did ye say?” Jamie’s thoughts seemed to be scattered around his mind as if someone had thrown them there, everything else shoved aside in favour of the memory of the Doctor kissing him, the whirlwinds of implication of what it could mean.

“That it’s best with the right person,” the Doctor said. He was watching Jamie with an odd intensity, something like affection, but far more tentative. “I don’t, ah – I don’t think it would be so nice with someone else.”

“Oh.” Jamie was silent for a long moment. “Would ye like to try it again?”

“I -” The Doctor’s eyes were darting from side to side nervously, as if he were trying to make sense of what he wanted. “Yes, I think I would. Would you – ah – that is, do you…” He trailed off, seeming rather lost.

Jamie smiled, thinking that perhaps he understood how the Doctor felt. “Kiss me?”

The Doctor cupped his face, drawing him close again, and kissed him.


	21. kisses on cheeks and foreheads and noses and hands before getting around to a kiss on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Oh – oh, Jamie!”

The Doctor came barrelling out of nowhere, pushing past soldiers and medics and officials in his haste. “We saw the ship go down – I thought perhaps -” He grasped Jamie by the shoulders as if trying to ground himself.

“’m fine,” Jamie said faintly. His head was still spinning from the impact. He thought he might have hit it on something on the way down – or had that been someone else? Nothing seemed certain anymore, outside of the Doctor’s hands on his shoulders, the concern in his eyes.

“Well, I’m very glad you’re alright,” the Doctor was saying. “Everyone else here thought it was a lost cause, that you’d never pull up in time. They were all in favour of shooting the ship down to prevent it hitting the planet, but I managed to convince them to wait.” He leant up and kissed Jamie on the cheek. “Well done.”

The lightness spreading through Jamie had nothing to do with any injuries he might have sustained. He wanted to reach up and touch the spot, but before he could force himself to move, the Doctor was fussing over him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and guiding him away from the crowds.

“You don’t look well,” he said anxiously. “I thought they said you weren’t hurt in the battle?”

“I wasn’t.” Someone pushed past Jamie, tripping him, and he wrapped his arms around the Doctor’s waist to steady himself, not letting go even when he was steady again. “Something hit me.”

The Doctor went back to checking him over for injuries, seeming to find one on the back of his head. He tutted disapprovingly. “A large something, by the looks of it. You’re lucky it’s not worse.”

“Aye, well.” Jamie managed a weak smile. “‘Spose everyone was right, I’m thick-headed.”

“That’s not true.” Somehow, the Doctor had managed to disentangle himself from Jamie’s grip, but was still holding his hand. “Come on, let’s get you to the medic bay, they’ll patch you up.”

* * *

“Jamie, you’re wonderful!”

“Eh?” Jamie blinked at the Doctor for a moment, as if trying to clear his vision to reveal the spark of brilliance that he had apparently shown. He glanced around the crowded bunker for clarification, but the others seemed as confused as he was. “What’ve I done?”

“Repeat what you just said.” The Doctor was already scribbling something on the wall in chalk.

“I said they’re too strong for us.”

“And then?”

“That we cannae just drop rocks on their heads.”

“Can’t we?” Stepping aside so the others could see his diagram, the Doctor beamed. “The exo-cyclic power converters!”

“Of course!” One of the scientists snapped her fingers in realisation. “If we destroy their power source, their shields will go down, and they’ll be completely vulnerable!”

“But we can’t get to the power source,” someone called from the back of the room. “It’s shielded too, remember?”

“Not everywhere!” The Doctor was scribbling on the wall again. “Air ducts right on top. Now, if we can just get inside...”

The scientists had started to mutter amongst themselves, their expressions sceptical. The Doctor looked around at them despairingly, clearly realising he was losing their belief in his ability to get them out of there. Jamie understood their feelings well enough, but he had been with the Doctor long enough to know that if he had a plan, it was bound to be better than waiting for the enemy to discover them.

“Will it work?” he asked.

Whatever the danger they were about to face, some part of Jamie’s mind thought that it was worth it just to see the Doctor light up with relief and gratitude. Before he even had the chance to quash the thought, the Doctor had leant up and kissed his forehead.

“Of course it’ll work!” he announced. Jamie barely heard him, too caught up on the shock of it, the spot the Doctor had kissed still seeming to burn with the impression of his lips. He wanted the Doctor to give him more kisses, and he never wanted to think about it again, and he wanted to believe that it had just been a friendly kiss. That the Doctor was like this with everyone, that he could put the whole shameful thing to rest and forget about it. But he could not pretend to himself that this was normal, that the Doctor went around kissing people indiscriminately.

The Doctor was talking again. Jamie forced his thoughts away from the kiss, trying not to dwell on it. He knew full well that come nightfall, he would be sleepless with thoughts of it.

* * *

A crack and a spray of sparks from the console made Jamie look up in alarm. “What did ye do?”

“The flux equalisers won’t align properly.” The Doctor made another attempt at bringing the two wires together, only to be met with more sparks. “Ouch! _Jamie_.”

“I dinnae see what ye expect me to do about it,” Jamie said. “I dinnae even know what a flux thingy is.” Rubbing his fingers and pouting, the Doctor assumed a plaintive expression until Jamie sighed and got up from his chair. “Och, come here.” He took the Doctor’s hands, examining the reddening burn mark. “Ye ought tae put that in cold water.” Reluctantly, he released the Doctor’s hands, perhaps a moment later than was strictly proper. “I’ll go and get some.”

If Jamie had not known better, he would have said that the Doctor was blushing. But surely that was wrong – the Doctor was hardly the sort of person to blush, was he?”

“I’ll – ah – I’ll get it myself, Jamie, you needn’t trouble yourself.” He certainly seemed flustered enough to be blushing.

“I thought ye said what ye were doing was important?” Jamie asked.

“Well – yes, it is -”

“Couldnae wait another moment.”

“Technically, yes.”

“I’ll get the water.” Jamie took the Doctor’s burnt hand again and patted it comfortingly. “You just keep working on – whatever it is you’re working on.”

“Certainly.” The Doctor hesitated, then darted forwards to kiss his nose. “Thankyou, Jamie.”

Only when he was standing in the doorway did Jamie register the kiss. He turned back to see the Doctor looking almost guilty. “What was that for?”

“I’m not sure, really. Your nose was just there.” He twisted his hands together anxiously. “It’s very cheeky, it -” He _was_ blushing. “Sometimes it looks like it needs kissed.”

Jamie smiled to himself as he walked away, but he pushed down the faint glimmer of hope. _He doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s not even human, he doesn’t realise what it sounds like._

_It’s not like he could love you too._

* * *

“What’re ye doing?”

The Doctor did not look up from examining Jamie’s fingers, as if he had already known Jamie was awake. “I’m conducting an analysis.”

“On?”

“Humans. You’re so fascinatingly fragile, you know.”

“’m not fragile.” Jamie thought about pulling his hand out of the Doctor’s grasp, rolling over, and going back to sleep, but something about the Doctor’s fingers stroking over his palm was soothing.

“Fragile enough for your skin to be a map of everything that’s ever happened to you.” The Doctor turned his hand over pointing to a silver line on his index finger. “What was that?”

“Cut myself with my own dirk.”

“How old were you?”

“Twenty-one.” He saw the gears of the Doctor’s mind ticking over, calculating. A year before they met. He had still been fighting in a war. Tucked up in bed with the Doctor, on an alien planet in a different galaxy, that time felt a long way away.

“You see?” The Doctor touched the spot almost reverently. “I wasn’t there, you didn’t even know I existed then. I didn’t see it happen. But I can see this. It’ll be there for your whole life.”

“Don’t your people have scars?” Jamie asked. Come to think of it, injuries never seemed to stick to the Doctor. They vanished quickly and left little trace, almost as if they had never been there at all.

“We – ah – I heal differently than you do. And resetting the body every now and then doesn’t help matters.”

“Oh, aye.” Jamie remembered what Ben and Polly had told him about the Doctor changing – how he had been an old man one moment, and a scruffy wee imp the next.

“You’re really quite astonishing to me, you know.” The Doctor brushed his lips over the spot, ever so slightly and deliberately.

Jamie’s breath caught in his throat. He could not lie to himself any longer – the Doctor had to know what he was doing, what conclusions Jamie would draw from a kiss like that. He was watching Jamie with a curious sort of longing, as if he wanted something, but he did not know what it was. They were so close together – it would be so easy for Jamie to cup the back of his head, to pull him down and kiss him, slow and sweet and tender, kiss him over and over until they were smiling too much to go on. For a moment, it seemed as if the Doctor was leaning in, too, and they would meet in the middle equally tentatively.

He rolled over, wrapping the blanket over his shoulders. “Ye ought to get some sleep,” he said, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. “We’ve got a long walk back tae the TARDIS in the morning.”

“Oh! Oh, yes, of course.” The Doctor settled in beside him, tugging on the blanket, draping one arm over Jamie’s waist comfortably. “Goodnight, Jamie.”

“Goodnight, Doctor.”

* * *

“Doctor -”

“Good morning, Jamie!” The Doctor sounded cheerful, but he kept his back carefully turned. He had already left the bed when Jamie had woken, and Jamie knew precisely what he was thinking of. The incident would not easily leave his mind, either. He knew he ought to be disgusted with himself for how close he had come to kissing the Doctor, but he felt only a burning curiosity to know if his suspicions were right, if the Doctor really did feel the same way.

“About last night...”

“It’s, ah, it’s quite alright.” The Doctor was rummaging through the pockets of his coat busily, still not looking at Jamie. “I understand. You’d rather we never spoke of it again. I made some mistakes last night, and I do apologise, but I hope we can still be friends.” At last, he looked up, his expression plaintive. “We are still friends, aren’t we?”

Jamie wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him at that. For someone so remarkably clever, the Doctor had the most infuriating habit of being completely clueless when it mattered most. He knew the Doctor had felt the shift between them last night, but he would hardly have expected him to not see that it was mutual. Perhaps the Doctor’s denial was as strong as his own.

“Jamie?” The Doctor was still watching him sadly. Jamie drew in a deep breath, steeling himself. He was unsure what would be worse – rejection or acceptance. Both would force him to confront thoughts he had been scared to admit for so long.

“Ye just want to be friends, then?”

The Doctor blinked. He opened his mouth as if to reply, then closed it again, suddenly looking very lost.

“It’s just that – I thought -” Jamie remembered the way the Doctor had looked at him as he kissed him. There was no way he could have made a mistake. “After last night, I thought maybe ye wanted… more than this.”

“I never intended for you to know,” the Doctor said quietly. “I’ve made a mess of this, haven’t I?”

“Of course ye haven’t.”

“I, ah, I don’t expect it to be mutual.” The Doctor seemed almost panicked now. “I won’t act on it if you don’t want me to, it’s quite alright -”

“And what if I want ye to?”

“Oh.” At last, there was a glimmer of understanding in the Doctor’s eyes. “You… you’re...”

“Aye.” Jamie let out a shaky laugh. It felt as if he had been holding onto his feelings forever, carrying them like something fragile, or even contagious. To be able to finally confess them – for the Doctor to _return_ them – it felt impossible, but here he was, faced with the reality of it.

The Doctor voiced his confusion for him. “I’m not sure what to do now.” He let out a nervous laugh. “I never imagined it going like this.”

Jamie smiled at that. “Aye, me neither.” There was only one thing he could think to do. He reached up to cup the Doctor’s face, leaning in just a little. “Can I kiss ye?”

The Doctor nodded.

For a moment, they were frozen in place, watching each other carefully. Hesitantly, Jamie dipped his head forwards and brushed their lips together, jerking away a moment later with the shock of it. A part of him still wanted to bolt away, to safely lock down all his feelings, to forget this had ever happened. A much larger part of him wanted to kiss the Doctor again, and again, and over and over for the rest of his life. It was everything he had been raised to believe was sinful and unnatural and wrong, but the giddiness and happiness in his chest was somehow the most wonderful thing he had ever felt.

It was the Doctor who eventually drew them close together again, kissing him clumsily, his nose squashing against Jamie’s cheek. When he pulled away, he seemed more than a little dazed. “I -” He reached up to run a finger over his lips. “Not to rush things, but I think I might love you.”

Jamie all but beamed at him, resting his forehead against the Doctor’s and lacing their fingers together. “I think I love ye too.” He kissed the Doctor again, not pulling away until they had to pause for breath.

The Doctor slipped one hand out of Jamie’s grasp and checked his watch. “Time we were going to find the TARDIS, I believe.” He squeezed Jamie’s hand. “Let’s go home.”


	22. discussing parenthood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

“I cannae believe it.” Jamie reached out towards his new daughter, beaming as she grasped his finger. “We’re parents, Doctor.”

“Yes, I’d rather gathered that by now.” The Doctor watched them with a sort of affection Jamie had never seen on him before. “We are each holding a baby, after all.”

“Aye, I know. I just havenae had a lot of time to get used to it, that’s all.” Susan squirmed in the Doctor’s arms, drawing their attention to her. “She looks just like ye.”

“Does she?” The Doctor held Susan up, frowning at her face.

“Aye, she has your hair.” Jamie looked between the Doctor, Anne, and Susan, grinning. “They both do.”

“I thought they looked rather more like you.” The Doctor ruffled Susan’s hair. “Want to swap?”

“Eh?”

“It wouldn’t do for them to think we were playing favourites.”

Jamie reached out to take Susan, fumbling to balance the twins for a moment until the Doctor took Anne. “I think they’re a wee bit young for that.” The Doctor pouted, and he burst out laughing. “See, they look just like ye!” Susan squirmed in his arms, starting to fuss and whine. “Did I do something wrong?”

The Doctor chuckled at the anxiety in Jamie’s arms despite himself. “I think perhaps she’s hungry.”

Jamie stared down at Susan, looking as if the concept of being hungry was completely alien to him. “Do we have anything tae feed her?”

“We put a bottle on the stove earlier,” the Doctor reminded him. “I, ah, think we may have to add another bottle.”

“Aye.” Jamie grinned at him, a little apprehensively. “We’re no’ so good at this, are we?”

“Of course we are! We’ll be perfectly good parents.” The Doctor winced as Susan started to wail out her displeasure. Anne joined in a moment later, as if she did not want to be left out. “Do you think perhaps we should feed them now?”

“Aye, I think so.” Jamie carefully nestled Susan against his shoulder and stood to leave.

“Jamie?”

“Aye?”

“How _do_ you feed human babies?”


	23. Shopping for supplies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [keatulie](keatulie.tumblr.com)

Jamie cast a despairing look around the shopping centre. It seemed impossibly huge, a vast, sprawling maze of colour and chatter and things which he did not have names for. “Why do we have tae go shopping, anyway? I thought the TARDIS could make whatever we wanted.”

The Doctor huffed. “I thought it might be _fun_ , Jamie.”

“I think it is.” Victoria was smiling brightly. She had taken a liking to a stuffed toy bear in the last shop they had visited, and had begged the Doctor for money to buy it, but so far she was the only one to have had any luck.

“That’s the spirit.” The Doctor smiled back at her proudly. “One last family outing before the loom finishes.” He considered the shop in front of them. “Do you think they’ll sell hats?”

“We’re no’ here for hats,” Jamie reminded him. “We’re here for proper clothes.”

“Nonsense, Jamie.” The Doctor took his hand, tugging him into the shop. Victoria wandered a little way away from them, looking through some of the racks and shelves curiously. “Hats _are_ proper clothes. You wouldn’t want them to be cold, would you?”

“Aye, I suppose not.”

“Jamie!” Rushing back to them, Victoria pressed something into his hands. “I found one you’ll like!”

It took a moment of staring down at the thing he was holding for him to register what it was – a tartan bonnet, one smaller than he had ever seen before.” Doctor?”

“Yes, Jamie?” He heard the smug smile in the Doctor’s voice, and grinned back despite himself.

“We have tae get this for the bairn.”

The Doctor sighed in a way that would have seemed long-suffering were it not for the amusement and affection dancing in his eyes. “But we need proper clothes, Jamie, not hats.” Jamie batted at his side in mock-reprimand. “Only if I can pick one, too.”

“Go on, then.” Jamie and Victoria watched the Doctor dash towards the hats as if he was a small child who had been told he could go and play with some new toy. “What hat do ye think he’ll pick?”

“A top hat?” Victoria suggested, watching him pick up a floppy sun-hat and discard it again.

Jamie made a quiet noise of agreement. “Do ye think they have bairn-sized stovepipe hats?”

Victoria laughed at that. “I don’t know. But if they do, I’m sure the Doctor will find one.”


	24. "Cuddles are good"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com) and [thescarletpaperback](thescarletpaperback).

“Jamie.” Someone poked Jamie in the side, and he groaned, rolling away from the unwelcome call back to wakefulness. “Jamie, dear, it’s morning.” He could picture perfectly the fond smile on the Doctor’s face as he spoke, but he still opened his eyes a little to look at him.

“’m sleepin’,” he mumbled half-heartedly.

“You’re talking, you can’t be sleeping,” the Doctor said. He sounded smug, as if he had dismissed a brilliant scientific argument rather than Jamie’s rather pitiful attempt at buying a few extra minutes of sleep.

“I can talk in my sleep, can’t I?”

“Yes, you can, I’m quite aware of that.” The Doctor tapped Jamie’s nose smartly. “But you don’t normally have your eyes open when you’re asleep.”

“Aye, I suppose not.” Resigning himself to the inevitable, Jamie turned back towards the Doctor, settling his head comfortably on his chest. “I’m only going tae cuddle ye if ye promise not to poke me again.”

“And I promise not to poke you if you stay awake.” Curling his arms around Jamie’s waist, the Doctor nuzzled into his hair happily. “Although – we really shouldn’t be lying around cuddling.”

“Why not?”

“The TARDIS landed us – ah, that is to say, I landed the TARDIS somewhere late last night. We ought to be going out to have a look.”

Jamie was quiet for a moment, weighing up the relative benefits of space monsters and lazy mornings. “Do ye think so?”

The Doctor batted at him, too gently to be reprimanding him with any real seriousness. “I thought you enjoyed our travels.”

“Aye, ‘course I do,” Jamie said hastily. “Travelling’s good. But cuddles are good, too.”

“You’re quite impossible, you know.”

“It’s no’ like you’ve gotten up, either.”

“Well – you _do_ have me a little trapped here.”

“Hm?” Jamie stared down at the Doctor for a moment before realising that he was still sprawled out on top of him. “Oh.” He wriggled out of the Doctor’s grasp, rolling off his chest and over onto his side. “There, you’re free tae go whenever ye like.”

“Splendid.” The Doctor shifted, and for a moment Jamie thought he really would get out of bed and wander off to see where they had landed. A moment later, however, he found himself pulled tightly against the Doctor’s chest.

“Och, you’re just as bad as I am,” he scolded the Doctor gently. “And anyway, that’s no’ fair. Ye were the big spoon last time.”

“It’s hardly my fault you’re so warm,” the Doctor replied innocently. “I suppose I’m not too keen on the idea of getting up, either.”

“What happened to seeing where we’d landed?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps we’ll go and have a look after lunch.”

“When’s lunch, then?”

“Whenever we feel like it.”


	25. "Well, there are the monsters."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

Pulling Zoe through the last stretch of the narrow tunnel, Jamie helped her down onto the cave floor. “There ye go. We’ll be safe in here.”

“For now,” Zoe said darkly.

“What’ve we got tae be worried about in here?”

“Well, there are the monsters a few kilometres away,” Zoe pointed out. “They’ll find us sooner or later.”

“Aye, well, let’s just hope we’ve got a plan by then.” Jamie clenched his fists, though whether out of worry or desire to lay into their enemies, Zoe could not tell. “If only they hadn’t captured the Doctor. He’d know what tae do.”

“Maybe he’s escaped,” Zoe suggested hopefully. “He might deal with them before they even notice we’re gone.”

Jamie shook his head. “They took him to the big city, remember? Even if he has escaped, it’ll be hours before he can get here. They’ll find us long before that.” He started pacing back and forth, and for the first time Zoe realised his confidence that they would escape was little more than an act to reassure her. She wondered how long it had been since his hands had started shaking, if he was wishing he could reach out to the Doctor and steady himself. “What would the Doctor do if he was here, Zoe?”

Zoe shrugged. “You know him better than I do.”

Jamie let out a hollow laugh at that. “Aye, I do. But I dinnae ken whether it’ll help.” He retreated further into the cave and knelt down, half-swallowed by the darkness, staring out into it.

The sound of a third voice made Zoe jump, and she wheeled around to face the tunnel. “ _Now, Jamie, don’t give up. There’s always a solution._ ” It was unmistakeably the Doctor’s voice, and Zoe’s heart leapt in her chest. If the Doctor was here, then they hardly needed to worry about the monsters outside – If they were there at all. But nobody came scrambling into the cave to join them. They were still alone.

“What would ye have me do?” Jamie murmured. “ _Come to the city, find out where they’ve made their base._ ” His lips were moving, but it was the Doctor’s voice, not his own.

“Jamie,” Zoe said slowly. “How are you doing that?”

Flinching as if he had been snapped out of a trance, Jamie turned to face her. “Doing what?”

“Talking in the Doctor’s voice,” Zoe pressed. “Are you talking to him?” She tilted her head to one side. “Is it some advanced form of telepathy? I thought he said his people were only touch telepaths, but I suppose a deep enough connection could -”

Her theorising was interrupted by Jamie’s laughter. “It’s an impression,” he explained.

“You’re imitating the Doctor?” Zoe frowned at him. “Does it help?”

“Aye, sometimes.” Jamie stood up, ushering Zoe back towards the tunnel. “We have tae go to the city.”

“Why?”

“Remember what the Doctor said earlier, about them no’ being able to breathe here?”

“Of course, they’ll have an atmosphere supply!” Zoe’s face fell. “But we can’t even get to it, let alone destroy it. And it might take hours for their portable supplies to run out.”

“We’ll just have to think of something along the way. Here.” Jamie lifted her up into the tunnel. “On ye go.”

“Are you sure this is what the Doctor would want us to do?”

Jamie pushed her further along the passage. “ _Zoe, listen to Jamie, would you?_ ”

“It’s a bit frightening, you know,” Zoe said. “The Doctor’s voice coming out of your mouth like that.”

Jamie grinned. “Ye should have seen the Doctor’s face when he first heard it.”


	26. "Stop giggling!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“What do you see in me?”

“I could ask ye the same question.” Jamie gripped the Doctor’s waist a little more tightly as he stepped precariously along a fallen log. “Careful, now.” He nodded to the steep riverbank. “Ye wouldn’t want tae fall in.”

“I’m not going to fall in,” the Doctor insisted. “My balance is perfect. I’m as graceful as – as -” He tipped over a little, arms windmilling desperately. Laughing, Jamie pulled him back upright. “Hush, you.” Stepping off the log, he narrowly avoided tripping over a stone.

Jamie grinned. “What were ye saying about being graceful?”

“Ah, yes.” The Doctor seemed to miss the sarcasm in his voice entirely. “I’m as graceful as a Vellynian lynx.” He hopped over a fern. “As agile as an Imurian Oofit.” Skipping out of the way of a part of the river bank collapsing, he barely avoided colliding with a tree branch.

“A what?”

“An Immurian – oh, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they’re agile.”

“Oh, aye.”

“My reflexes are as quick as those of a -” Letting out a cry of alarm, the Doctor tumbled out of Jamie’s grasp and down the slope of the riverbank. Jamie reached out to him, fumbling to get a grip on his hand or on his coat, but he Doctor had already plunged into the river, vanishing beneath the surface. A shiver of terror ran own Jamie’s spine. The river was running quickly, and the Doctor was not surfacing. What if he had struck his head on a stone? What if he was drowning?

Before he could jump down the bank himself, the Doctor surfaced, soaked through and trying to look dignified. He seemed to have dredged up half the riverbank as he fell – his coat was dirtied, and half-rotten leaves clung to his hair. Jamie could not help but laugh at the sight, and only laughed harder when the Doctor stuck out his bottom lip like a petulant child.

“Wet and muddy as a frog, I think,” he managed at last, clambering down the bank. “Are ye hurt?”

“No, I’m perfectly fine,” the Doctor muttered a little bitterly. “Stop _giggling_.”

Sitting down beside him in the water, Jamie brushed a few stray leaves off his shoulders. “What if that’s one of the things I see in ye? That ye make me laugh?”

The Doctor smiled, reluctantly at first, then mischievously. “Well, I suppose that’s alright. But only if I can -” Cupping a handful of water, he released it over Jamie’s head, bursting into laughter himself at Jamie’s shocked expression. “There. It suits you.”

Jamie made a valiant effort of scowling at him from beneath his dripping fringe, but the Doctor’s laughter was infectious. “Och, ye -” He splashed the Doctor in retaliation, a little ineffectively given how thoroughly soaked he was already. “I’ll get ye back for that.”

The Doctor smiled smugly, looking as if he too knew that he was invulnerable to Jamie’s half-hearted splashes. “How?”

His laughter turned to a cry of shock and indignation when Jamie launched himself at him, bowling him over and pushing him down into the water.


	27. "Are we in trouble?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).
> 
> based on [this](http://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/141443462248/imagine-person-a-and-person-b-being-on-a-phone).

A buzzing sound cut through the quiet air of the bunk room, making Jamie flinch and reach to grasp the hilt of his knife. Only when his fingers met with empty air did he remember that he had taken it off and tossed it underneath his bed, knowing that he was safe for the moment. The buzzing was nothing more than the communicator the Doctor had given him, shaking on the bedside table. Even so, he found himself unable to completely relax. The other soldiers might be celebrating a victory – their first in years, so Jamie was told – but something about this planet unsettled him. Perhaps it was being thrown back into an army, this time faced with real combat; perhaps it was the vast, empty wasteland they had been marching across for days. Perhaps it was being away from the Doctor for so long.

Fumbling for the communicator, he squinted down at the screen. A wee picture of the Doctor was smiling up at him, and he smiled back at it, wondering when the Doctor had had time to take it. After a moment’s experimental tapping, he managed to answer the call. “Are we in trouble?”

“Jamie!” The Doctor’s voice was louder than he had expected, almost making him drop the communicator. “No, no, nothing like that. I just thought I’d check up on how you – how things are going.”

“Doctor, it’s two o’clock in the morning.”

The Doctor was quiet for a moment. “So it is,” he said at last. “None of us here have gotten much sleep, I’m afraid. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No.” He was hardly about to admit to the Doctor that he had been trying to pretend he was in bed on board the TARDIS to calm his nerves enough to sleep. “I suppose ye know we won this morning.”

“Yes, yes, everyone’s very pleased with you.” The Doctor sounded a little harried now, and Jamie could not help but feel a little satisfied. He had suspected the Doctor had some other purpose for calling. “Jamie – I want you to do something for me.”

“Aye, alright.”

“Next time there’s a battle – they’re going to bring something new in. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I want you to convince the generals not to attack it.”

“Do ye want tae look at it?” Hope soared in Jamie’s chest for a moment. If the Doctor wanted this gadget, someone would need to bring it back to him. Perhaps he would be out of the army and returned to his friends sooner than he had expected.

“Certainly not.” The Doctor paused, as if he was debating what to tell Jamie. “I think they’ve wired it to explode.”

“What?” Jamie exclaimed. Glancing at the door, he lowered his voice. “I thought ye said no one on this planet had explosives yet.”

“Yes, well… I think the other side is evolving rather faster than we’d thought.”

“What if I can’t convince the generals?” Jamie hissed. “I’m sure they dinnae trust me. They won’t even know what the danger is.”

“Keep as many people away from it as you can,” the Doctor said. “Get yourself away from it, at least. Please.”

The terror in the Doctor’s voice sent a shiver down Jamie’s spine. “We’ve got no chance,” he said softly, more to himself than to the Doctor.

“Of course we do,” the Doctor said bracingly. “We’re working on something here that might end this war with as little blood being spilt as possible.”

“Aye, but will ye be finished in time?”

“We’re making excellent time at the moment, I don’t see why that should change.” The Doctor’s voice dropped. “I’ll bring you home safe, Jamie, I promise.”

“I know ye will.” Footsteps were sounding in the corridor outside. The party was over. “I should go.”

“Oh.” The Doctor sounded almost crushed. “Yes, of course. You need your sleep.”

“Will ye call again tomorrow? I...” Jamie fiddled with the hem of his kilt for a moment. “I’ve missed ye.”

“I – ah – I’ve missed you too. I’d have called before, but we’ve been so frightfully busy.”

“Aye, I know. Your gadget is much more important, anyway.”

“Nonsense.” The Doctor yawned. “Oh, dear. I think I might need something of a rest myself.”

Affection rushed through Jamie. “Ye need me there to look after ye.”

“Yes, I dare say I do.” Jamie’s heart skipped a beat at that, at the careless affection of it.

“Goodnight, Doctor.”

“Goodnight, Jamie.” He heard the Doctor yawn again. “Love you.”

“Wh – Doctor!” Jamie suddenly found himself wide awake, as if someone had doused him in cold water. He could hardly believe he had heard the Doctor correctly – but there it was, written on the communicator’s automatic transcript, clear as day. The Doctor let out a little noise of alarm, clearly having realised what he had said. “I – I love ye too, I -” The call ended with a click. “Doctor!”

The door creaked open, and he hastily shoved the communicator under his blankets, rolling over to hide his face. Despite himself, he could not tear his eyes away from the transcript. _Love you. I love you too._ A truth he had told himself he would never speak, blurted out so easily, written there for anyone to see.

* * *

A great crash from the adjacent room made Polly turn to Ben in alarm. “Is that the Doctor?” Muffled shouting confirmed her suspicion. “He was calling Jamie, wasn’t he? You don’t think something’s happened?”

The Doctor burst out of the room, cursing in a language she could not understand, his hair sticking up as if he had been running his hands through it. “Of all the stupid – _idiotic_ -” Seeing Ben and Polly staring at him, he quietened. “Ah – Polly,” he said at last. “I’ve made something of a mistake. I think I might need some help with it.”


	28. "I came for you now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Flux generator,” the Doctor muttered to himself, flicking a switch. Beneath him, the space station’s generators began to groan into life. “Velocity booster.” His heart sank as the lever resisted his attempts to push it, and sank further when it slid back into the off position the moment he let go. “Oh, the confounded -” Bracing himself against the lever, he managed to hold it in place. “Atmosphere shields… momentum buffers… warning lights on.” To his satisfaction, the control panel slowly lit up as he pressed each button. Years of neglect had not damaged the systems too badly. “Now, what have they done with the fuel release lever?”

He turned around slowly, dread filling him. The lever was behind him, on the opposite control panel – and, if he was not mistaken, just a few inches out of reach. The control room was designed for at least seven operators, not one. If he let go of the velocity booster for even a second at this stage of the operations, the generator and perhaps even the whole space station might explode. Alone and unable to pilot the space station back into a stable orbit, he was condemning them all to death, whatever path he chose. He could only hope that Ben and Polly had managed to get the escape pods working in time – and that Jamie had managed to find them, and was not wandering through the corridors, lost and with no idea of the predicament the Doctor was in. If only he had not left to join the evacuation parties, the Doctor thought. If only they had not parted in anger.

The space station shuddered around him, and he fought to keep the velocity booster lever upright. Desperately he scanned the cupboards above him for something he could use to pull the lever. His eyes caught on a hooked tool on the shelf above him, and he reached towards it, struggling to maintain his balance as the shaking of the space station grew more violent. His fingers brushed the handle – for a brief moment, he thought he had it in his grasp – then the space station lurched, sending it clattering to the floor and spinning away from him. Slumping against the control panel, he rested his forehead against the velocity booster level for a moment, catching his breath and gathering his resolve. Perhaps he could reach the other control panel after all. He strained towards the lever, hope bursting in his chest as his fingers brushed the top. If only he could stretch out a little further…

The velocity booster lever was slipping, and he threw his weight back onto it, wincing as the engines screeched. He remained still for a moment, his heart pounding, preparing himself for another attempt. Reaching out again, he closed his eyes against the shaking of the space station and the groaning of the machinery. The tool he had thought to use before was halfway across the room by now, no longer of any use to him. Distantly, he wondered if the shuddering would make him let go of the lever and explode the engines before the hull of the ship could even start to fall apart. A pretty sight they would make for the people on the planet below, either way, burning up in the atmosphere. Once again, he reached out to the other lever, hoping beyond hope that he would be able to grasp it. Every time his fingers brushed the top, it slipped away, or he was thrown back by a particularly violent shudder. When at last he managed to get a hold of something, it took him a moment to realise that he was not holding the lever but someone’s arm.

“Jamie!” he exclaimed. He had managed to convince himself that Jamie had made it to the escape pods, but here he was, standing in front of him, holding the fuel release lever firmly in the on position. “Jamie, where are the others?”

Jamie shrugged. There was something distant in his expression, as if the rattling of the corridors had given him a touch of shock. “Safe, I think,” he said eventually. “Last I heard, Polly and Ben were ejecting the last couple of pods.”

“Then – then -” The Doctor was still struggling to reconcile Jamie’s presence now with their argument when he had left. “What are you doing here? You said it was a bad idea to stay behind to try and save the space station was a bad idea, you said -”

_“Och, I’m sick of your – your_ heroics _!”_

_“Jamie! I am only trying to help, you know.”_

_“I’m going tae find Ben and Polly. They’re doing something useful, no’ messing around with a heap of metal.”_

_“And who told them to do that?” It was too late. Jamie’s footsteps were already echoing down the corridor, further and further away from him by the second. “Jamie, I need your help! Jamie!”_

“I said I wanted tae do something useful,” Jamie finished. “Ben and Polly have saved all the people. I knew you’d need my help.”

They stared at each other for a moment, half weighing each other up, half too embarrassed and unsure to say anything. “You came back to help me save the ship,” the Doctor said, a little aimlessly.

“I came back for _you_ ,” Jamie corrected him.

The Doctor swept him into the tightest one-armed hug he could manage, burying his face in Jamie’s shoulder. “You’re rather wonderful, you know,” he mumbled. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

“No’ really.”

The Doctor lifted his head, intending to turn back to the control panel and start on the final stages of getting the engines running. Instead, he found himself nose to nose with Jamie, their proximity clearing any thoughts of the task at hand from his mind. The only thing he could think to do was kiss him, clumsily and desperately. To his surprise, Jamie kissed back, reaching up to cup the back of his head and pull him closer. The control room seemed to fade away as they kissed, even the constant screeching of the engines quietening. Only when a burst of sparks showered over the control panels did the Doctor spring away, surveying the damage anxiously.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” he muttered to himself. “Quickly, Jamie, there’s not much time left.”

Jamie was staring at him uncomprehendingly. “Doctor, that – we – ye _kissed_ me. I kissed _you_ , I -”

The Doctor took his hand, pulling his attention back to the space station and their current predicament. “I know,” he said quietly. “Later, hm?”

“Aye.” Jamie leant in and kissed him again, slower, softer. This time, it was the Doctor who took a moment to compose himself when they broke the kiss. “Later.”


	29. "Love is overrated."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

The Doctor shuffled around the console, avoiding Polly’s eyes. “Really, Polly, I don’t know where you get these ideas.”

“You tell me,” Polly said, smiling knowingly at him. “Yesterday -”

“Give it a rest, Pol,” Ben interrupted. He winked at her. “Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“There’s nothing to talk _about_ ,” the Doctor huffed, flicking a switch with rather more force than was necessary. “I’m not avoiding anything. There’s nothing to say.”

Ben snorted. “If you say so, mate.” He turned back to Polly. “Still. He won’t tell you anything if he doesn’t want to.”

“Of course I won’t!” The TARDIS clunked, and the Doctor clapped his hands together, glad of the distraction. “There. In perfect flight.” He glanced between Ben and Polly, properly registering their presence for the first time. He had debated the matter inside his head so many times that their physical presence was startling. “Where’s Jamie?”

Polly giggled at him, and he scowled. “In his bedroom, I think.” She stepped closer, dropping her voice. “He can’t hear. Go on, admit it.”

“Admit _what_ , exactly?”

“That you’re in love with him, of course!”

“That I’m -” The Doctor spluttered helplessly for a moment. “Polly, the interpersonal relationships of my people are infinitely more complicated than yours, I – I cannot overstate the difference between us. From my perspective, the clumsy human definition of love is quite frankly overrated.”

“Oh, I’d believe that, of course I would.” Polly leant on the console, managing to look serious for a moment before breaking into a wide smile. “If you acted like it.”

“I’m not in love with him!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Not in love with who?”

In unison, the Doctor, Ben, and Polly turned to see Jamie standing in the doorway, fiddling with the hem of his jumper and looking a little lost. “Ah – nobody, Jamie,” the Doctor said hastily. “Nobody at all. Do come in.”

“Aye, alright.” The Doctor could tell from Jamie’s expression that he suspected something was being kept from him, but he did not pursue the matter. “Have we landed?”

“Ah – just a minute.” The Doctor pressed another button, not looking away from Jamie’s face. He hardly minded looking at Jamie’s face, he thought. It was a very handsome face, after all. But that didn’t mean he was in love. He caught Polly smirking at him, and hastily averted his eyes. “There we are.”

The TARDIS shuddered, tipping the Doctor over the console and sending Jamie stumbling towards him. He threw out his arm, catching Jamie before he could fall any further, and Jamie clung to him in return, his eyes wide with alarm. “What’s happening?”

Ben had managed to grab a hold of the console, steadying Polly with his free arm. “What did you do?” he yelped.

“Nothing!” the Doctor protested. He reached across Jamie to press another button, but only succeeded in making the TARDIS shake again. “I don’t know why this is happening!” At last, Jamie reached out to grasp the console, and the Doctor found himself wedged securely in his arms. “Ah – thank you, Jamie.”

Jamie grinned at him. The console room tipped, and he winced as the sharp edges of the console dug into his hands. “It’s no bother.”

The Doctor reached for another button, but the TARDIS steadied on her own. He relaxed tentatively, patting the console. “My word. What was that about, hm?” A moment later, he realised that Jamie’s chest was still pressed tightly against his back. “Don’t tell me you’re dropping hints too, now.”

Polly opened the doors, then slammed them shut when she was greeted by an icy breeze. “Brr, it’s cold out. Do you think we should get coats, Doctor?”

“Yes, yes, we should, you’re quite right,” the Doctor said distractedly, occupied with disentangling himself from Jamie’s arms. “Ah – Jamie, could I -” Jamie remained still, staring down at the console, apparently deep in thought. A faint redness was spreading across his cheeks.

Ben tugged at his sleeve. “Come on, mate, let’s find you a coat.” Jamie followed him out of the room obediently, casting a tentative smile back at the Doctor as he went.

When Polly sidled up to him, the Doctor sighed. “I think you got a bit flustered just then,” she said. “Jamie, too.”

“Oh, really, Polly,” the Doctor said. Polly laughed, and he cursed the lack of conviction in his voice.

“Anything you say, Doctor.”

“Doctor?” Poking his head around the doorway, Jamie held up a bundle. “I brought ye a coat, too.”

“I don’t -” Jamie’s smile was so bright and proud that the Doctor found he had to glance away, as if worried he might be blinded. As if he was looking into the sun. “Ah. That was very thoughtful of you, Jamie.” _I’m not in love_ , he told himself sternly.

Jamie draped the coat over his shoulders. _I'm not in love_. The Doctor’s eyes followed him almost automatically as he moved away, lingering on his smile as he turned to Polly. _Love is overrated_.


	30. "What are you thinking about?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

Jamie let his head fall against the back of the sofa, staring up at the ceiling of the library. The glinting golden circles that adorned it held his attention for a moment, but he found that he was too sleepy to focus on them, and his thoughts were drawn to the Doctor instead. “What are ye thinking about?”

“Small-scale hyper-drive mechanics,” the Doctor answered. He sketched another line, then scribbled out the diagram. Jamie watched the movement of his fingers almost idly, complacent in the knowledge that the Doctor could keep at the same studies for hours on end. There was plenty of time to watch him work. “Or the theory of it, at least.”

“Mm.” Jamie closed his eyes. “What’s it about?”

“Sending small objects over short distances at high speed.” The Doctor picked up something – perhaps his pencil holder. Perhaps something bigger, Jamie thought with a smile. Perhaps he was brandishing it about, unaware of the danger he posed to himself and to the books. He liked that image better. “You see, if you wanted this lamp -” He could not stop a quiet laugh from escaping him. “Jamie, are you listening to me?”

“Aye, ‘course I am,” Jamie murmured. He opened his eyes just enough to see the Doctor’s stern expression.

“If you wanted this lamp on the other side of the room,” the Doctor continued, “small-scale hyper-drive mechanics would allow you to send it over there in the blink of an eye.”

“Why would I want it on the other side of the room?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Let’s say that it’s dark.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler tae just...” Jamie’s tired mind fumbled with the words. He waved his hand, trying to get his point across without having to speak. “Ach, what’s the – walk. Walk over and get it? Or turn the lights on?”

The Doctor sighed, turning back to his paper and starting on a new drawing. “What if you needed something immediately?” He snapped his fingers, apparently settling on a good argument. “Wouldn’t it have been useful to have your knife immediately, earlier today?”

“Mm. I’ve already fought one beastie today, ‘m too tired tae think about fighting another.” Nestling further down amongst the pillows, Jamie let his eyes slip closed again. “Does it work?”

“Not at all,” the Doctor said, letting out a huff of laughter. “At best, you’d overshoot. The lamp would rip a hole in the TARDIS. That is, if you could even manage to get it to hyper-drive in the first place. They don’t make the engines that small, you know.”

The Doctor’s voice was growing ever more distant, and Jamie yawned, submitting himself to sleep. “Tell me if ye find the answer, then.”

“I will.” The waking world was faint through the blackness. “Sleep well, Jamie.”

When he awoke, he found the Doctor seated comfortably in his lap. He had curled around so his head rested on Jamie’s shoulder, his breathing deep and even. It took Jamie a moment to realise that he was not sleeping, or even dozing. His eyes were open, his expression one of concentration. The circles he was tracing on Jamie’s chest seemed to follow a deliberate pattern, though not one Jamie could decipher. Only after a long silence did he speak, catching Jamie off-guard. “What are _you_ thinking about?”

Jamie shrugged. “Just you,” he said. “What you’re writin’. What you’re thinkin’ about. How your small-scale thingamies went.”

The Doctor paused in his tracing of the circles, shifting a little to lean on Jamie more comfortably. “Small-scale hyper-drive mechanics.”

“Aye, that.”

“Not particularly well, I’m afraid. It’s an impossible problem. Not even the best and brightest on Gallifrey could solve it.” He chuckled. “So, I’m thinking about what you’re thinking, and you’re thinking about what I’m thinking? Quite a bind we’re in.”

“Aye, I suppose so.” Jamie tilted the Doctor’s chin up to look at his face, hoping the sight would help keep his eyes open. “Ye were thinking about your thingamies? Before I woke up, I mean.”

The Doctor’s lips curved into a tiny, fond smile. “As it happens, I got tired of thinking about small-scale hyperdrive mechanics.” He brushed a lock of Jamie’s hair out of his eyes, as if to see him more clearly. “I wanted to think about you, instead. That’s why I came over here.”

Jamie grinned at him. “And what happens when ye get tired of me?”

“Trust me.” The Doctor rested their foreheads together. “Small-scale hyper-drives aren’t nearly as interesting. I’m not planning on getting tired of you.”


	31. "Tell me again?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Oh, dear.” The Doctor rested his head in his hands, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear.” Beside him, Jamie stirred a little, reaching out for his hand. The Doctor let him take it, smiling fondly as Jamie clutched it to his chest. “Yes, dear, I’m alright. We’re alright.” He stretched, uncurling from the hunched position he had been holding for the last – goodness knew how long the raid had lasted. “It’s a wonder you slept through all that.”

The sirens had stopped. The Doctor stood up, still holding onto Jamie with one hand, pressing his book close against his chest with the other. The city seemed to be stirring into life around them, people emerging from underground and out into the streets. He could perfectly picture them blinking in the sunlight, breathing in the fresh air as if they had been trapped in the bunkers for weeks. They were fighting for freedom, or so the city’s government claimed. The Doctor could not bring himself to believe in their grandiose speeches. He was fighting for the people whose lives were being torn apart, for Jamie and for poor, lost Victoria. For the chance to go home.

Footsteps were clanking on the steps above the bunker. Someone knocked on the door, shouting down to them. “Alright down there, Doctor?”

“Quite alright, thank you, Vancell,” the Doctor called back. “Ah – a little busy. I’ll see you later.” The raid might be over, but he had no desire to leave the bunker yet. An attack could come at any time. Jamie would not like being cooped up in here, he thought, but he would have to live with it.

“Have it your way, then.” The footsteps receded away from the bunker. “You lot! Get that machinery working again, fast as you can!”

The Doctor shook his head, turning back to the rough cot and to Jamie. Simple steam-powered machinery was getting them nowhere, but the city was determined to go on with it. It gave them hope, he supposed. The same hope he had that his book held answers. He held it up to the light, blowing a few stray clumps of dust off its embossed leather cover. “What are you hiding, eh?” He opened it, running a finger down the exposed webbing of the spine. The book was dying, breaking down under the weight of his constant searching. If he did not find their enemies’ power source soon, their most promising lead would be lost. “What did the professor find that was so important?”

A letter fell out of the book.

His heart pounded in his chest as he bent to pick it up. The parchment was torn by the author’s quill, the handwriting blotted and scrawly. It had clearly been written in a hurry – perhaps in the final moments before the explosion that had killed the professor. He sat down on the cot, worried that his legs might fail him if the letter held the breakthrough he was longing for. Squeezing Jamie’s hand, he began to read.

“ _To my dearest wife..._ ” He sighed. “No, no, this won’t do.” His heart was sinking, but he scanned the letter anyway, hoping for some scrap of information. “ _They’re coming closer… they want to shut down the research lab… the government won’t listen. Nobody is interested in listening anymore, on either side._ ” He liked this professor, he decided. It was a shame they were dead. Perhaps they could have sorted things out, between them. “ _I know now that I shall never see you again. My only hope is that Vancell delivers this letter safely into your hands._ Vancell...” He glanced at the ceiling, as if hoping to see through it.

“Get those boilers working!” It was Vancell’s voice, barely audible over the sounds of machinery and hissing steam. Someone cried out in pain, as if they had been struck. Jilut Vancell, most notorious taskmaster in the city. How was he entangled in all this?

The Doctor turned back to the letter. “ _Know that I will love you, always._ ” His shoulders slumped, and he turned to look at Jamie. “More and more questions, hm?” Jamie mumbled something. “What’s that?”

Rolling over, Jamie pulled the Doctor’s hand back to his chest. “I love ye too.”

The Doctor burst into laughter, momentarily distracted from their plight. “Oh, Jamie, that wasn’t meant for you.” He bent down to kiss Jamie’s forehead. “Though – that’s not to say it isn’t the truth.” He turned the letter over idly, then paused, staring down at a note hastily scribbled on the back. “ _Look to the – to the crystal caves…_ Jamie, that’s it! That’s where they’re getting their power! We can stop them, we can bring Victoria home!”

Jamie scrunched up his face, looking less than impressed by this revelation. “I love ye _more_.”

Suppressing another bout of laughter, the Doctor folded the letter up and placed it in his pocket. “I’m very glad, but it’s not quite what we need at the moment.” He made as if to stand up, but paused, lingering in the quiet and peace for a moment longer. “Tell me again?”


	32. "It's three in the morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“What did I tell you?” The Doctor fumbled in his pockets, searching for the TARDIS key. “Back in time for lunch. Oh -” He dropped the keys back into the depths of his coat. “Oh, crumbs. Butterfingers.”

Jamie glanced dubiously up at the sky. The first of the two moons was just beginning to set, and the stars were still wheeling above, bright as ever. “It’s three in the morning, Doctor.”

“Ah -” The Doctor glanced at his watch, then up at the sky. “Closer to four, I think.” He gave a sheepish smile. “You know, I never specified which lunchtime we’d be back in time for. There’s still tomorrow.” He reached further into his pocket, frowning. “Oh, where is the wretched -”

Taking pity on him, Jamie pulled his own key out of his sporran. “Here.” The Doctor took it gratefully. “We didnae even have lunch in the end. Or dinner. Or see that wee tearoom ye were so keen on.”

“I think we must’ve taken a wrong turning somewhere,” the Doctor said hastily, slipping through the doors. Jamie followed him, grinning.

“Maybe when ye went over that hill tae investigate the explosion,” he suggested. “That’s usually when we take a wrong turning.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I told you, someone might have been hurt. And they had been, and we helped -”

“An’ got banned from the tearoom in the process,” Jamie finished. “Ye know, I dinnae remember how that happened.”

“It’s a long story,” the Doctor said, waving one hand dismissively. “The owner of the tearoom came to investigate the crash site. He was convinced that we were the perpetrators of the explosion, and wouldn’t hear any of my explanations.” He sighed. “I’m afraid it does mean we can’t just wait until it opens tomorrow.” Jamie opened his mouth to reply, but the Doctor cut him off. “Ah – I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Jamie. We can always have tea in the TARDIS.”

“Aye, I suppose we can.” The Doctor reached for a lever on the console, but Jamie caught his hand, stopping him. “Are ye sure ye don’t mind? I know ye were looking forward tae this.”

Pulling his hand out of Jamie’s grasp, the Doctor flicked the lever up. The TARDIS wheezed into flight, as reluctant to move as ever. Now, exhausted and hungry, Jamie thought he knew how it felt. “The food machine is perfectly capable of replicating all seventy-two secret ingredients in that tea, you know. I seem to remember putting it in the databanks some years ago. Such a shame, I’d always wanted to go back.”

“Maybe we could go back.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I’ve told you, Jamie, they won’t -”

“No, no, back in time.” Jamie was grinning now, alight with realisation. “That man, the owner, he thought he’d seen us somewhere before!”

Clapping his hands together, the Doctor turned back to the console, throwing levers back and pressing switches excitedly. “You know, Jamie, I do believe you’re right. And as I’ve been able to give the TARDIS the necessary repairs -”

“Now?” Jamie asked, alarmed.

“Why not?” Jamie’s stomach rumbled, and the Doctor laughed. “They do _excellent_ scones, you know.” The console’s column began to rise and fall, and he beamed. “Shouldn’t take long. I only took us back to last Tuesday.”

The TARDIS wheezed – then wheezed again – then again, and again. Jamie’s triumphant smile faded, and he turned to the Doctor. “This doesnae sound like a short flight, Doctor.”

“Nonsense. She’s just being lazy.” The Doctor tapped on the console sharply. “Come on, old girl, we ought to be there by now.” The TARDIS shuddered, as if in response to the Doctor’s reprimand. “Alright, alright.” The console stilled, and the Doctor hurried over to open the doors, his face falling as he did so. “Oh. Oh, dear.” He turned to address the console. “What have I done this time?”

“What’s wrong?” Jamie peered over his shoulder, rubbing at his eyes tiredly when he caught sight of the debris-filled space before them. A great boulder drifted past, disturbing a cloud of dust. “Och, we’re in the wrong place.”

“We’re in exactly the right place,” the Doctor corrected him. “Just several billion years too early.”

“ _Ach_.” Jamie yawned, scrubbing at his eyes. “Tea in the TARDIS, then?”

“Oh, don’t know. Maybe she’s got a point.” The Doctor closed the doors. “It _is_ a little bit early for tea.”


	33. “We have to be quiet.” /“You’re trembling.” /“I feel like I can’t breathe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com/).
> 
> accompanying gifset on [tumblr](http://the--highlanders.tumblr.com/post/170449209736/the-doctor-asked-around-a-mouthful-of-biscuit).

Jamie clutched at the Doctor’s sleeve, pulling him away from the box. “Do we have tae go in there, Doctor?”

“Hush, Jamie!” The Doctor clambered inside, taking advantage of the iron grip on his arm to pull Jamie in after him. “We have to be quiet. Whatever that thing chasing us is, it seems to have exceptionally good hearing.” He fumbled to get a hold of the lid, and Jamie glanced around nervously, hoping that they had lost their pursuer.

“Isn’t there anywhere else we could hide?” he asked.

“This is the best place,” the Doctor said, lowering the lid over them. “Now, if we just give it a few minutes -”

“Don’t!” Jamie slammed his hand up against the lid instinctively, wincing as he struck the metal but succeeding in keeping it open by a few inches. The resulting bang echoed across the empty grasslands, and the Doctor flinched.

“What _has_ gotten into you, Jamie?” He tried to grab Jamie’s hand and close the lid, but to no avail.

“Don’t close it just yet,” Jamie begged.

The Doctor did not seem to have heard him. “You do realise what you’ve done, don’t you? You’ve made the weather tower into a – a beacon for that thing out there! It’ll find us in minutes!”

“And...” Jamie searched desperately for some suitable explanation of his actions. He was not entirely sure he understood them himself. “This way we can see it comin’,” he said at last. “It glows in the dark, remember?”

“That’s only helpful if it comes up in front of us,” the Doctor pointed out darkly. He paused, taking in Jamie’s wide eyes and ragged breathing. “Ah – Jamie, are you quite sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I’m fine.” Jamie peered out of the box, avoiding the Doctor’s gaze. The cool air on his skin calmed his racing heart, and he managed to compose himself a little. “Just a wee bit out of breath, that’s all. An’ - well, I dinnae like waiting for it tae find us.”

“I think there’s more to it than that.” The Doctor reached over to place his hand on Jamie’s shoulder comfortingly, but Jamie shook it off. “Jamie -” Something caught his eye, and he froze. “Jamie, let go of the lid.”

“What -”

“Now!” The Doctor grabbed Jamie’s waist, pulling him down on top of him. The lid slammed shut, and Jamie’s breath caught in his throat. The earth beneath them was shuddering with the impact of heavy footsteps, and he tightened his hold on the Doctor’s coat, hearing the creature turn towards them.

Something heavy collided with the box, denting the lid. Jamie curled further into the Doctor, muffling his cry of alarm in his chest. “What’s it doin’?”

Whatever had fallen on them must have been sharp, he thought, shivering. The Doctor was squinting up at a small hole that had been torn in the lid. “It’s reared up on its hind legs,” he said softly. The ground was shaking again, this time with the falling of debris as the tower was pushed around above them. “It must think we’re in the tower – oh. No, it’s getting down now – I think it might be heading off!”

The creature let out a snort of frustration as its footsteps receded away. Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. “Can we get out now?”

“We’re lucky it’s not the brightest of things,” the Doctor continued, allowing himself a small smile. “Ah – no, I don’t think so. It’ll be scouring the grasslands for us for a while yet, if it’s stubborn enough to follow us all the way here. It seems as if it’s been bred for tracking.” He patted Jamie’s back comfortingly. “I know you’re worried for Victoria.”

“Victoria,” Jamie echoed blankly. He had almost forgotten about her in his panic. “Aye. I am.” The words sounded flat, emotionless, and he could almost hear the Doctor’s mind ticking over, his thoughts echoing through the box.

“Not Victoria, then,” he murmured to himself. “What _is_ worrying you, Jamie?”

“Nothin’!” Jamie insisted. “I’m fine. As fine as I can be, with that thing lookin’ for us.”

“You’re trembling,” the Doctor said quietly. He looked up at Jamie pleadingly, eyes glinting through the darkness. “Tell me what’s wrong, Jamie, please.”

“I’ve told ye!” Jamie wanted to scramble away from him, to hide his face, to ignore the Doctor’s endless questions, but the half-caved-in roof left him with little room. “There’s nothing wrong!” He tugged at his collar with shaking hands. The Doctor’s concern felt like a flame blazing through the confined space, and he was burning up with it. “I – what if we suffocate in here?”

“There’s plenty of air, I assure you,” the Doctor said, frowning. “Are you ill?”

“No – no, there’s no’, it’s all _stuffy_ -” Jamie sat up, untangling himself from the Doctor as best he could. His head collided with the lid, and he winced, squeezing his eyes shut. “I cannae – I feel like cannae breathe.” His eyes were stinging - whether with pain or with panic, he was unsure. Tears dripped down his cheeks even as he covered his face with his hands. “Tell me we’re not going tae die here,” he choked out weakly.

The Doctor reached out towards him, then seemed to think better of it, huddling closer to his side of the box to give Jamie more space. “We’re not going to die here,” he said gently. “Jamie, tell me -” Jamie shook his head. “This is important, Jamie – you remember that time with the yeti, hm? And I had you hide in the box? Did you feel like this then?”

“A – aye. Something like it. What does it matter?” Jamie risked glancing up at the Doctor, looking away quickly when he saw his sympathetic expression. “I dinnae want _pity_.”

“I don’t pity you,” the Doctor said. “Far from it. You’ve been very brave.” Jamie snorted. “But I made you suffer, then and now, and – you really should have told me.”

“I just want tae – tae know what’s wrong with me.” Jamie’s voice quavered and then broke, his next words coming in a hoarse whisper. “Can ye fix it? Can ye give me somethin’ - somethin’ from the TARDIS?”

“I’m afraid not. But it’s just claustrophobia -”

“Claustro – what?” Jamie forced the question out from between gritted teeth, but regretted it a moment later. He clenched his jaw tighter, fearing that if he opened his mouth again he might be sick.

“Claustrophobia,” the Doctor repeated. “Fear of tight spaces. We should be able to manage it. For now -” He pushed the lid of the box open, standing up to step out of it. “I think we have a little bit of elbow room to find a better hiding spot, don’t you?”

Jamie remained curled in the corner of the box, his knees drawn up to his chest. After a long moment, he found that he could breathe again, the twilight breeze cold on his flushed cheeks. Managing to swallow one sob, he gasped out another, grimacing when he realised what he had done. “Sorry,” he whispered. “It’ll hear us -” Uncovering his face, he glanced around at the grasslands. “It’s gone,” he realised.

“For the moment.” The Doctor reached down to take Jamie’s hand and help him stumble out of the box. “Do you think the grass is tall enough that it won’t find us?”

Jamie shrugged, following him away from the tower. “Can we – can we rest a bit?” he asked.

“Yes, I think so.” Ducking amongst the grasses, the Doctor gave a murmur of satisfaction when he found a small hollow in the ground. “It shouldn’t see us here,” he said gently. “We can sit here, and – ah – get our breath back.”

Jamie sat down beside him, squeezing his hand gratefully. “Mm.” The panic was fading now. His mind felt numb and slow, and his lips did not seem to want to form words properly. “Doctor?”

“Mm?”

“Thank ye.”

The Doctor smiled, sadness and regret flickering in the depths of his expression. “I’ll do better by you in future, Jamie. I promise.”


	34. "I've missed this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com/).

“What happened?” Polly called up towards the observation deck. There was a long, tense moment of silence. “Did the other ship go down?”

The Doctor came clattering down the stairs, gripping the rail tightly for support, His expression was still one of exhaustion, but there was a lightness in his eyes that Jamie had not seen for days, and he knew the answer before the Doctor even spoke. “It’s done,” he said, breaking into a wide smile. “The explosion was – ah – quite magnificent.”

Polly let out a joyful laugh, hugging Jamie tightly. “It’s done,” she repeated, beaming back at the Doctor “It’s done, it’s done, we’re safe -” She turned to pull Ben into the hug.

“’ey, lay off, duchess,” Ben protested. “Did it really go down, Doctor? It wasn’t another trick?”

“Yes, textbook main reactor failure. Whatever was possessing the engines couldn’t have seen that coming.” The Doctor all but tripped down the final few steps. Regaining his footing, he leant heavily against the wall, breathing hard. “What happened on your end? Did all the escape pods get away?”

“As far as we can tell.” Letting go of Ben and Jamie, Polly hugged the Doctor, twirling him around. “Will they be alright?”

“Perfectly alright. The scanners here have started to pick up the rescue ship, it'll arrive long before the life support systems start to fail.” The Doctor patted Polly’s back, peering over her shoulder. “Ah – Polly, dear, could I -” When Polly did not let go of him, he turned to Jamie. “Is the magnetic shield gone?”

“Aye, the wee dial’s back to zero,” Jamie said. “The TARDIS isnae too far away, is it?”

“No, no, it should be relatively simple to get it back, it’s only a few segments away -” At last, the Doctor managed to disentangle himself from Polly. She seemed unperturbed, turning back to Ben. “Yes, everything seems to be in order. No excessive magnetism left.”

Jamie crossed his arms over his chest, trying to suppress a grin. “Don’t ye trust me to get it right?”

“Of course I do.” The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, smiling softly at Jamie for a moment. “I just needed to – well, to check it myself. It’s been...” His voice trailed off, but Jamie nodded anyway.”

“Aye, I know ye wanted tae make sure. I was just teasin’.” Jamie looked back at Ben and Polly. They were still too wrapped up in their own celebrations to take much notice of anything else, tapping at some of the screens excitedly. He closed the distance between himself and the Doctor, hugging him from behind. “But there’s nothin’ tae worry about.” Realising what he had done, he almost sprang away, but the Doctor’s hands settled over his, and he stilled.

“Yes, I know.” The Doctor half-turned in his arms. He hesitated, then leant forward to rest his forehead against Jamie’s temple. “Mm. I’ve missed this.”

“Missed what?”

“Oh, you know.” The Doctor waved one hand vaguely. “Hugging you.”

“I hugged ye yesterday,” Jamie said, puzzled. Things might have changed between them, but he was sure he had not been ignoring the Doctor. “I know we’ve been busy, but we’ve been together.”

‘Yes, but – that’s just the problem,” the Doctor said. “You know exactly when you last hugged me. We haven’t been… Well. _Casual_ about it, you might say, since before...”

“Oh. Ye mean since before -” Jamie kissed the Doctor’s cheek. “This. Whatever it is.” The Doctor nodded. “Is it a problem?”

“Not a problem, exactly.” The Doctor shifted again, turning to look up at Jamie plaintively. He let go of Jamie’s hands to hold him by the waist. “It does make this more enjoyable, I suppose.”

“Aye, well, maybe I’ve been a wee bit too careful. But I didnae want to push ye.”

“I wouldn’t have minded,” the Doctor said. “I… I needed this.”

“Aye, me too.” Jamie yawned. “This and a good sleep.”

“Particularly over the last few days,” the Doctor continued. “What with things being different now, and us landing here. I was afraid we might lose something.”

“Are we going to get the TARDIS back, or not?” Ben called over to them. Jamie sprang away from the Doctor a little guiltily. “I’m just _saying_. It’s been long enough.”

The Doctor huffed at him, frowning. “In time, in time,” he said.

“I thought you said that once the magnetic field was down, the segments would start to drift away from each other,” Polly added. “Shouldn’t we be in a hurry?”

“Oh!” The Doctor’s eyes widened in alarm, and he scrambled towards the door, all trace of tiredness gone. “Oh, my word, you’re quite right, Polly – I do hope we haven’t wasted too much time already.” He ushered Ben and Polly through the door, then turned back to Jamie. “Come along, Jamie, there’s no time to waste.”

“Don’t worry.” Jamie said reassuringly. The Doctor’s hand slipped into his a little tentatively, and he squeezed it, pulling the Doctor onwards. “We’ll find it again.”


	35. "You could have died."/"Do you regret it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

Smoke was billowing out from behind the TARDIS’ closed doors. Jamie skidded to a halt, staring at it in horror. If one of the blasts had managed to penetrate its armour – if the Doctor and Victoria had been inside -

He remembered that he was being pursued a moment too late, and was thrown to the ground by an energy pulse glancing off his shoulder before he could force himself to move. The main body of the pulse hit the TARDIS, making it shudder and screech, and he winced. Surely, he thought, surely it could not stand up to this onslaught for much longer. But another band of fighters was emerging from the trees, shrieking and waving their scavenged blasters, and the forces on either side of him were quickly closing in. The TARDIS was the only shelter he could reach in time.

Crawling forwards, he fumbled to get a hold of the door handle and pull himself upright. He made as if to reach into his sporran and pull out his key, but his arm was still numb from the energy pulse, and he could do little but make his fingers twitch. Cursing, he ducked away from another pulse, glad that he was partially concealed by the smoke. Before he could reach for the key again, a piercing cry split the air, and he turned to see one of the fighters charging at him, spear waving madly. At least he still had one working hand, he thought grimly, raising his own blaster to shoot them down. The fighter tumbled to the ground, stunned, and he returned to his task of opening the TARDIS doors.

The feeling was coming back into his arm, and he made another grab for the key, but his fingers only brushed the top of his sporran. Cursing, he shook his hand, trying to make the numbness recede faster. Another fighter was rushing out of the trees now – then another, then another, emboldened by the first attempt. The smoke was making his eyes water, and he struggled to focus on his attackers. He was running out of time. Hefting the blaster with one hand, he threw his weight against the door. “Doctor!” he called. “Doctor, are ye in there? Can ye hear me?” Distantly, he heard a shout of annoyance, and fresh hope surged into his heart. The Doctor was inside, and still alive. “Doctor!”

His first shot went wide, his shaking hands throwing off his aim, and he shook his head to clear it, trying to blink away the smoke. If only Victoria was here, he thought, allowing himself a small smile. She had always been the better shot. But she was inside with the Doctor, no doubt, following instructions as she was meant to, and kept safe by them. He hit one of the fighters, but the others were coming in fast. He should have stayed with the Doctor. They were close enough now that he could see the glinting edges of their blades – he leant heavily on the door, wheezing, his head spinning – the blaster fell out of his hand –

Someone opened the door behind him, and he tumbled through into the console room. Somethin red was flickering back and forth above him. Fire? No, the Doctor’s handkerchief, and the Doctor himself was coughing and spluttering. “Oh – oh, dear, that blasted shot, I do hope the console is alright – Jamie!” He made as if to crouch down beside Jamie, then caught sight of the fighters outside. “Oh – oh, Victoria, help me, will you?” He tugged on Jamie’s hand uselessly. “Victoria!”

“’m alright,” Jamie mumbled. “I – I can do it myself.” He tried to lever himself up with his free hand, forgetting the pulse that had hit him, and collapsed as his arm gave out. His jaw smacked against the floor, and he let out a whine of pain from between gritted teeth. “’m fine!”

“You most certainly are not fine.” The Doctor switched his grip to Jamie’s other hand, and Jamie managed to push himself far enough inside that Victoria could close the doors behind them. She knelt in front of him, helping him sit up against the wall and pushing his hair out of his eyes. The Doctor turned towards the console, clapping his hands together. “Extractor fans on, please.” The TARDIS gave a groan of protest, but the fans whirred into life a moment later. “That’s it. He needs to breathe.”

“What should we do?” Victoria’s eyes were wide with terror. “Is he – will he be alright?”

“He’ll be perfectly alright,” the Doctor said soothingly. “Go and fetch him a glass of water. Or – ah – something to soothe his throat, I think. Try setting two hundred and seventy-one B on the food machine.” Victoria dashed off into the kitchen, murmuring the instructions to herself. The Doctor watched her go, then crouched down in front of Jamie, tilting his chin back so Jamie could look at him properly. His touch was gentle, but his words were harsh. “Why are you here?”

Jamie grinned weakly. “Takes more than a wee bit of smoke tae get rid of me.”

“That’s not what I meant.” The Doctor let Jamie’s head fall back against his chest, twisting his hands together anxiously. “I told you to stay away from the TARDIS!”

“Aye, well -”

“Now you’ve gone and led them straight here!” Victoria returned, carrying a glass of purple liquid as delicately as if it might shatter at any moment. The Doctor took it from her. “Thank you, Victoria,” he said gently. “Here, drink this.” He raised the glass to Jamie’s lips.

Strength flooded back into Jamie’s limbs almost immediately, and he managed to stand up, though he found he had to lean on the wall for support. “Where else was I supposed to go?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Anywhere.”

“What’ve I done wrong, anyway?”

“Everyone had given you up for dead!” Jamie took a step back, alarmed by the anger in the Doctor’s voice.

“That’s no’ very nice of them,” he said, grinning weakly.

The Doctor scowled at him, and the smile faded from his lips. “This is serious, Jamie.”

“What do ye want me to say?”

“I don’t know!” The Doctor buried his face in his hands, steadying himself. “An apology would be a good place to start.”

“An apology?”

The Doctor did not look back up at Jamie. “You could have died,” he said quietly.

“We nearly die all the time.”

“Not like this.” It was worse when the Doctor was quiet, Jamie thought. Somehow, his fury was more obvious, his disappointment more crushing. “There was no need for this – did you even think about what you were doing?”

“Of course I did! I was trying tae buy ye time!”

“And in doing so, you made it obvious that we were targeting their supply chain, brought all their forces together, and let them know where the TARDIS is!”

For the first time, Jamie felt a flicker of doubt in his own actions. “Well, when ye put it like that...”

“What would everyone here have done if we’d lost you, hm? A dead hero’s no good to them. And what would Victoria and I have done?” The Doctor’s voice dropped again. He stepped closer, and Jamie saw that his eyes were brimming with tears. “What would I have done, Jamie? How do you think I’d have felt, knowing you’d thrown your life away like that?”

Almost instinctively, Jamie pulled the Doctor into a hug. The Doctor stiffened, then relaxed, all the tension draining out of him as quickly as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut. He clutched at Jamie’s shirt, and Jamie wondered if he was intending on ever letting go. “I’m sorry,” he murmured into the Doctor’s hair. “You’re right, I wasnae thinking.” He pressed a few kisses to the spot, and the Doctor shuddered as if wracked with silent sobs.

“ _I’m_ sorry,” he mumbled into Jamie’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“Ye were worried,” Jamie said softly. “I understand, ye know.”

“Mm.” The Doctor lifted his head, gripping Jamie’s shoulders to steady himself. “Do you regret it?”

“’fraid not,” Jamie said. “I did find the supply train, after all.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “You did? What’s it like?”

Jamie nodded. “It’s no’ what we thought. They havenae got as many weapons as we thought they did.”

“Oh.” The Doctor was smiling now, pulling away from Jamie to pace around the console, clasping and unclasping his hands. “Oh, but Jamie, that’s – oh, I could kiss you.”

“Go on, then.”

The Doctor hurried over to cup his face, laughing into the kiss. “You’re wonderful, Jamie, have I ever told you that?”

“Once or twice.”

“Next time I doubt you, remind me of today.” He peered over Jamie’s shoulder. “Do you understand it, Victoria?”

“Yes, I think so.” Victoria was smiling too now. “If we can take out the supply train, then they’ll have to agree to a treaty.” The Doctor dashed over to the doors, but was thrown back by the TARDIS shaking with another impact. “Doctor! Be careful!”

“Aye, we’re still surrounded, remember?” Jamie added. He grinned at the Doctor. “We could die out there.”

Stumbling back towards the door, the Doctor managed to get a hold of the handle. “We nearly die all the time,” he repeated, and Jamie smiled wider. “Now, when I say run, run.”


	36. "Don't go anywhere."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

A pillow was thrown halfway across the room.

The Doctor stared at it, trying to comprehend this development. Something told him that this was not the proper position for a pillow, but a fog of tiredness still lay over his mind, and he could not be sure. That was different, too, he thought – light was streaming in through the false window. The TARDIS had clearly begun her day cycle. He had overslept by a few hours.

He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table, then shook his head, remembering that he had not needed them since his renewal. _Goodness_ , he thought. _Sleep does make one confused, doesn’t it?_ But the bed was warm, and his sleepiness was fading into a comfortable buzz at the back of his mind. He rolled over, and his hearts all but skipped a beat at the unfamiliar sight of Jamie fast asleep in his bed. And pillowless, as he had expected, he noted with a smile.

“Good morning, Jamie,” he said, daring to lean in and press a kiss to Jamie’s forehead. Jamie simply mumbled something indistinct in response, pulling the covers over his head as if to block out the light. The Doctor’s smile widened. “Shall I pull the curtains back?”

Jamie’s head emerged from beneath the blankets. He blinked blearily up at the Doctor for a moment. “No,” he said, without a trace of tiredness, then burrowed beneath the covers again.

“It’s quite late already -” The bundle of blankets rustled, as if Jamie had shaken his head. “Jamie. You can’t go back to sleep.” The Doctor huffed. “ _Jamie_.” He poked at Jamie’s side. “At least sit up.” When he was ignored, he poked Jamie again, this time obtaining the rather delightful result of making Jamie _squeak_ , of all things. “Are you ticklish?”

He poked at the blankets a third time, but Jamie wriggled away before he could hit his target. “I’m not ticklish,” he protested, his voice muffled. “I just dinnae like being poked first thing in the moment.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s quite true.” The Doctor threw the blankets back, revealing Jamie’s scowling face. “I think you might be ticklish.”

“No -” Jamie tensed, ready to jump away again, but the Doctor leapt at him and pushed him backwards onto the bed. “No, no, no -” He squirmed, trying to avoid being pinned down, laughing breathlessly as the Doctor tickled his sides. “Stop!” The Doctor stilled, drawing back a little nervously. He had not meant to go quite so far. “Alright, I’m maybe a wee bit ticklish.”

“Thought so,” the Doctor said, satisfied. “Now, we really ought to be -” Jamie rolled them over, shoving his hands up the Doctor’s shirt, fingers seeking out bare skin. “Jamie!” To his relief, Jamie did not tickle him, instead simply settling his hands over his waist.

“Good mornin’,” he said softly.

“Good morning,” the Doctor replied. He paused, trying to think of something to say. “Did you – ah – sleep well?”

“Aye,” Jamie said, sounding equally as stilted. “Aye, it was… nice. I think I slept better than I had in a while.”

“Yes, me too.” The Doctor stretched, yawning. “Would you do it again?”

Jamie relaxed over him, lowering himself down until their noses were brushing together. “If you’ll put up with me in your bed.”

Remembering the pillow, the Doctor let out a snort of laughter. “Any time you like, but only if you promise not to throw things around in future.”

Jamie’s cheeks coloured a little. “No promises.”

A knock on the door made them both jump. “Would you two like breakfast?” Polly called. “I’ll bring it to you, if you want.”

“No, no, we’re on our way,” the Doctor called back. “Come on, Jamie, we’d better get up.”

“Mmph.” Jamie rolled off the Doctor, bundling himself up in blankets again. “No’ hungry.”

“Of course you are. Oh, Jamie, don’t go back to sleep.” The Doctor pawed at his side. When Jamie did not reply, he sighed and forced himself to sit up. “Alright, I’ll go and fetch breakfast myself. That’ll wake you up.” He made as if to get out of bed, but Jamie reached out from beneath the blankets to wrap his arms around him, holding him in place. “I’m only going to get breakfast, you know.”

“Breakfast can wait,” Jamie mumbled. “Ye said I could sleep in your bed any time I liked, and I’d like tae sleep in it now.” He peeked out from beneath the blankets, his eyes wide and plaintive. “Don’t – don’t go anywhere. Not yet.”

“Oh, alright.” The Doctor settled in beside him. “I suppose you’ve got a point. It _is_ nice.” Jamie’s arms tightened around his waist. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”


	37. "If this thing doesn't eat us alive, I want to marry you!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

Jamie dipped his fingers into his pocket, drawing in a deep breath and squaring his shoulders. “Doctor?”

“Mm?” The Doctor looked at him briefly, then back up towards the stars, and Jamie was glad of it. Perhaps he would finally have the courage to go through with this if he did not have to look the Doctor in the eye.

“I was wondering if – maybe -” The edge of the box was caught on his pocket. He tugged it out, mumbling curses to himself and hoping that an unusually loud splash from the stream had hidden his words. The Doctor remained quiet, apparently oblivious to his struggle. Probably still distracted by the stars, Jamie thought fondly. At last, he managed to pull the box out, and turned towards the Doctor. “If maybe you’d -”

The Doctor was gone.

Sighing, Jamie shoved the box back into his pocket. “Ye could at least _tell_ me when ye want to go back inside,” he said, casting a regretful glance around the clearing. The bright stars above, the quiet stream, the soft, familiar wheezing of the TARDIS behind them – it had been such a perfect spot to propose. Too perfect, he admitted to himself with a wry smile. He should have known that something would ruin it.

Another loud splash made him turn his head towards the stream. Something was thrashing around in it, sending little bubbles drifting up towards the surface. He leant over to investigate, but leapt backwards when something burst out of the water.

It took him a moment to realise that it was the Doctor, grasping in vain at the muddy bank in his efforts to heave himself onto the grass. Chuckling, he reached out to help him up. “Did ye fall in?” he asked as the Doctor collapsed beside him. His laughter died away when he saw a tear in the Doctor’s sleeve, revealing a ring of puncture marks that could only have come from a bite. “Something pulled ye in?”

The Doctor spat out a mouthful of water. “Something big,” he said hoarsely, letting Jamie pull him to his feet. “It got hold of my leg, pulled me under, then went for my arm. It wanted to get me into its cave, I think, but I tapped it on the nose and let go.” He grinned, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Not quite the peaceful spot we thought it was, I’m afraid.”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Jamie muttered to himself darkly. Peering down into the stream again, he shrugged when he saw nothing but still water. “It’s gone now,” he said. “Reckon ye scared it off.”

The creature launched itself out of the water, its jaws snapping closed barely an inch away from Jamie’s leg. Only the Doctor pulling him out of the way saved him from being dragged into the stream as well. “Scared it off, did I?”

“Aye, alright, I spoke too soon.” The Doctor stepped out from behind him, clearly intent on examining the creature as it crawled over the bank. “It’s no’ really the time for that, Doctor.”

“Yes, but – oh, how fascinating!” The creature reared up on its hind legs, hissing and waving its front two pairs at them. “It bears such a strong resemblance to the salamanders on your Earth – I wonder if it’s simply a similarly adapted amphibian form, or if it’s been brought over by colonists and mutated somehow!” He beamed, but the creature seemed unimpressed with his theories. A wide crest fanned out around its neck, bright yellow and red against its black body, and it hissed again. “Ah. You might be right, Jamie.”

“What do we do?” Jamie said. “Get into the TARDIS?” Even as he spoke, the creature’s beady eyes fixed on the TARDIS, and it spat a thick, slimy mucus onto the doors. A few stray strands dripped from its mouth, making the grass beneath it sizzle and blacken.

“I don’t think so, do you?” The Doctor pulled him further backwards, watching the creature warily.

Jamie was still staring at the doors in horror. “What if it’s damaged it somehow, and we cannae get back inside?”

“Oh, it won’t come to that. She’ll clean the mess off after a while.” The Doctor cast around for some defence. “Quick, up a tree. It doesn’t look like it’ll be able to follow us.”

“But it’ll just burn straight through it!” Jamie exclaimed

“Not if it can’t see us,” the Doctor explained, pushing Jamie up the nearest trunk. “I think it’s just – ah – territorial. I hope.” Jamie frowned down at him. “Do you have any better ideas?”

“Aye, maybe it’s hungry!” The creature was opening its mouth again, its crest widening, and Jamie scrambled up into the branches. The Doctor followed him hastily, reaching out for his hand to be pulled further up.

“That’ll do,” he murmured, perching on a thick branch. Jamie settled down beside him, watching the creature carefully. To his relief, it did not seem to be able to climb, just as the Doctor had said. Instead, it was pacing back and forth, hissing incessantly, occasionally letting out a pained hacking noise as if trying to force something out of its throat. When he turned to the Doctor, he saw his own thoughts reflected on his face. “Yes, it does rather seem to have run out of acid, doesn’t it?”

“How long for, though?” Jamie asked grimly. The tree shook, and he clutched at the branch desperately. When he looked down again, he saw the creature throwing its bulk against the trunk.

“Long enough to make it impatient,” the Doctor whispered back. “I, ah, think that if we just wait quietly for a while, it’ll lose interest.” He stretched out, swinging his legs back and forth, looking far too nonchalant for the situation they were in. “Lovely night, though, isn’t it?”

Jamie almost burst into laughter at that. The Doctor was still soaking wet and covered with mud, they had been chased up a tree by a giant, acid-spitting salamander, and yet he still managed to find the best in things. “That’s no’ exactly how I’d have put it,” he said, grinning.

“But you’re smiling,” the Doctor replied. “So it can’t be too bad, can it?” Jamie shrugged. “Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?”

The tree shook again, almost pushing Jamie off the branch. He clung onto the Doctor, trying to steady himself. “I dinnae think now’s really a good time -”

“If I happen to be wrong, or that creature manages to make more acid, this could be the only time we have,” the Doctor pointed out. “So if it’s important -”

“It wasn’t -” The next impact was hard enough to leave the creature stunned at the base of the tree. Jamie leant down to get a better view of it. “Hey, do ye think it’s knocked itself out?” A cold flush of fear ran through him as he saw the ring box, half-shaken out of his pocket already and slipping closer to the edge too quickly for him to stop it. “No -” He caught it by his fingertips as it fell, and clutched onto it tightly for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief. Remembering that it was meant to be a secret, he went to shove it back into his pocket hastily, but the Doctor caught his wrist.

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” he said, smiling tentatively up at Jamie.

“Och, alright.” The creature was stirring. “If this thing doesnae eat us alive, will ye marry me?”

“Gladly, but that’s still rather a large _if_ , you know.” The creature was shaking its head and hacking up at them again, but with no success. Apparently deciding that they were too much effort for what they were worth, it flattened its crest and stomped back off into its stream. It seemed much too small to fit inside, but its bulk vanished beneath the surface with disconcerting ease. “Oh, good. It should be safe to get down now.”

“What if it comes back? What if it’s getting more of that stuff?” Despite his protests, Jamie followed the Doctor out of the tree, eager to be on solid ground again. “Anyway, we’re still stuck outside the TARDIS.”

“Not for long,” the Doctor said, gesturing towards it. The slime was dissolving away with surprising speed, and Jamie let himself relax. “Ah – about your question...”

Jamie grinned. “Was that a yes?”

“In theory.” The Doctor glanced back over his shoulder, giving Jamie a small smile. “I, ah, would still like to be asked properly, you know.”

“Aye, I know.” Jamie fished the box out of his pocket, opening it with shaking hands and kneeling behind the Doctor. “So… would ye?” The Doctor turned to face him, his smile turning disbelieving. “I know it’s no’ exactly the perfect time, but… well, the beastie didnae eat us. That has tae count for something.”

“Yes, I think that’s about as perfect as we’re going to get.” The Doctor knelt down beside him, holding out his hand so Jamie could slide the ring onto his finger. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

“Just as soon as ye find somewhere perfect enough, eh?” Jamie said, grinning at him.”

“Yes, well – perfect has a rather flexible definition, you know.” The Doctor pulled something out of his own pocket. “I do hope you don’t mind.”

Jamie shook his head, leaning forwards to kiss his cheek. “If I minded, I wouldnae be asking ye to marry me,” he pointed out. The Doctor chuckled, taking Jamie’s hand and putting a ring on his finger in return. “Hey, that’s your signet ring.”

“Yes, the one that doesn’t fit me anymore. But I thought it would fit you.” The Doctor turned Jamie’s hand over, inspecting his work. “It does. Remarkably well, in fact.”

“Doctor…” Jamie’s attention was drawn back towards the stream by a quiet hissing. “I think we should get inside. Now.”

The Doctor laughed. “I don’t think a minute or two will make that much difference. After all, we’re hardly going to land in the right place straight away, are we?”

“It’s no’ that, it’s -”

“Besides, I suspect she won’t let us take off for a while. She’ll still be working all that acid out of her system.”

“No, I mean...” Jamie pulled the Doctor to his feet and towards the TARDIS. “It’s come back again.”

“Oh!” The Doctor looked up at the creature and stumbled backwards, startled. “Oh, my word.”

“Aye.”

“Into the TARDIS, Jamie, quickly!”


	38. "Did you just throw a rock at it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

A blast of hot air sent Jamie ducking back behind the rock that had been sheltering him, grimacing at the smell of rotting meat. “Please tell me ye have a plan,” he said. “That thing’s got horrible breath, I dinnae want it to eat me.”

The Doctor simply shrugged. “I’m still thinking,” he said. “We are in quite the difficult situation, you know.”

“Aye, I can see that. An’ given that ye were the one who got us into it in the first place -”

“Oh, really, Jamie, just because I didn’t realise it would see my recorder playing as a threat -”

“- then I think it’s only fair if ye get us out -”

“Oh, will you two stop _bickering_!” Victoria exclaimed. The Doctor and Jamie fell silent. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, there’s still a giant snake trying to eat us. Why can’t we just go further into the cave and wait until it forgets about us?”

“Ah.” The Doctor grimaced. “I didn’t mention the giant leeches, did I?”

Jamie turned to peer at the great, dark lake that filled the cavernous space behind them. He shuddered when he realised that the ripples he had first taken for waves were in fact great, writhing leeches, thrashing around in the water. Every now and then he caught a glimpse of open mouths, stained a sickening red. Beside him, Victoria recoiled and huddled closer against him, and he fought the urge to cover her eyes. “Can’t ye think a bit faster?” he asked the Doctor instead.

“No,” the Doctor said sharply.

“Can’t we distract it with something?” Jamie felt around on the cave floor for a large enough stone. Picking one up, he brandished it triumphantly at the Doctor. “We throw this somewhere an’ it goes off after it, then we nip out!”

Victoria was nodding along with him, but the Doctor did not seem convinced. “I think it’s a little too smart for that, Jamie.”

“Well, what if we just made a run for it?”

“I’m afraid it’s much too fast.”

“Oh, come on!” Victoria pleaded. “Anything’s better than nothing, Doctor.” She peeked above the rock, gasping when the snake’s eyes fixed on her. It shoved its broad snout against the cave entrance with renewed vigour, sending fragments of rock splintering off the archway. “The roof’s going to cave in if it keeps going like this.”

“Victoria, get down!” the Doctor hissed. Ignoring him, Victoria seized the stone out of Jamie’s hand and tossed it at the snake. It struck just above its eye, making it draw back with a roar of pain. The Doctor dragged her behind the rock again as it screeched and writhed furiously. “What were you _thinking_?”

“Someone had to do something,” Victoria replied, grinning madly.

“Did ye really just throw a rock at it?” Jamie pushed himself up to get a better view. The snake was striking at the cave entrance more fiercely now, still whining. The rock had punctured its thick skin, and blood was dripping down into its eye, half-blinding it. “Good shot.”

“I doubt we’ll be grateful for it,” the Doctor said grimly. Even as he spoke, the creature was pushing its head further into the cave, snapping at them. All three of them leapt back in unison, feeling for each other’s hands. “I, ah, I think we ought to make a hasty retreat, don’t you?”

Jamie’s eyes caught on the lake before them. “What about the leeches?”

The Doctor gestured towards the snake. It was still occupied with squeezing its coils into the cave, baring its fangs in frustration. “That’s rather a bigger problem. I think I’ll take my chances with the leeches.” He glanced at the water, then back at the snake, starting to smile. “Jamie, I think I have an idea. But I’m afraid we’re going to have to act as the bait.”


	39. "Was that just a crack in the ice?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](https://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Really, Jamie, I don’t know what you’re worried about. It’s perfectly safe.” Zoe rocked back on her heels, bouncing up and down a little in demonstration. “The Doctor said the ice is over a metre thick.”

“The Doctor says a lot of things,” Jamie muttered darkly. “It doesnae mean he’s right.” He took a tentative step onto the ice, stiffening when the snow crunched beneath his foot.

“It’s quite safe,” Zoe repeated. Tossing her head impatiently, she folded her arms and set off across the ice. “If you’re not coming...”

“No – no, no, Zoe -” Jamie rushed to catch up to her, grabbing her arm. “Ye can’t just go off on your own!”

Zoe sighed. “The ice isn’t going to crack, Jamie.”

“Have ye ever walked on ice before?”

For the first time, he caught a flicker of doubt in Zoe’s eyes. “Well, no. But theoretically -”

“Then ye cannae say it’s going tae be alright!”

“ _Jamie_.” Zoe fixed him with a stern glare. “How many times have you fallen in when the ice has been this thick?”

“Well, I haven’t, but -”

“That’s settled, then.” Zoe set off again, leaving him to hurry after her. “We’d better move quickly, we only have an hour until the next snowstorm’s due.”

“Och, alright. But if ye fall in, I’m no’ going tae pull ye out.”

“It won’t come to that.”

They carried on in silence for some time, Jamie still eyeing the ice beneath them suspiciously. Despite all her earlier reassurances, he caught Zoe doing the same, her confidence ebbing away as they lost sight of solid ground. She was checking her weather gauge with increasing frequency, casting grim glances up at the rapidly darkening sky.

“How long have we got before the storm?” Jamie ventured at last.

“Fifteen minutes,” Zoe answered. Her voice was clipped and measured, but Jamie could read the suppressed nervousness in it. “It’s come sooner than we thought.”

“Oh.” Jamie kicked at the ground, sending up a spray of snow and ice. “Are we gonnae make it to the outpost?”

“I don’t know,” Zoe said irritably. “Possibly, if you stop talking and get a move on.”

“Hey -”

“Oh, really, Jamie, don’t argue -”

“- is that a crack in the ice?”

Zoe sighed. “Don’t start this again. The ice _is_ a little thinner here, but -”

“I’m no’ starting anything, I’m just sayin’ - Zoe, come back!” He reached out to pull her towards him, but his fingers barely brushed her arm, and he did not dare follow her.

“It’s quite safe.” Zoe stepped closer. “There’s nothing here, see?”

Even as she spoke, the ice splintered beneath her, and she vanished into the shadowy depths of the water with a terrifying, cut-off cry.

“ _Zoe_!” Jamie rushed over to the hole in the ice, kneeling beside it and reaching down into the water. More cracks were spreading out beneath him, and he threw himself onto his stomach to stabilise it. The ice was barely a few inches thick, he realised, far from the metres Zoe had claimed it would be, and he felt a sickening swoop of grim satisfaction at having been right. “Zoe, why do ye never listen?”

The ice tilted beneath him, and he scrambled backwards to avoid plunging into the water himself. More cracks were spreading around him, and he stared down into the water, searching for Zoe. Maybe she had hit her head on the way down, he thought with a chill of horror. Maybe he would never find her.

Before he could dwell on the thought for too long, Zoe burst up from beneath the surface, casting around frantically for something to hold onto. “Jamie!” she cried. “Jamie, where are you?”

“I’m here!” Jamie pushed off from the main ice sheet, sending the fragment he was crouched on bobbing towards Zoe. He managed to grasp her arm, and pulled her up and out of the water. “Here, I’ve got ye. Careful, don’t tip us over.” She was already shivering, and he hugged her close, rubbing her arms to warm her up. “You’re alright.”

Zoe opened her mouth to reply, but coughed up water instead, retching weakly over the edge of the ice. “I’m alright,” she said faintly. “Just give me a moment.”

“You’re no’ alright.” Jamie took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. “You’re freezin’.” Water was already crinkling into ice on her clothes and hair. “An’ I don’t think we have a moment.”

Zoe reached up to touch the fur lining of the coat’s hood confusedly. “What about you?”

“I’ll be alright.”

She followed his gaze up to the sky, cursing under her breath when she saw the dark clouds descending over them. “What do we do?” she asked.

“Keep goin’,” Jamie said. He pushed their piece of ice back towards the main sheet, crawling onto it and almost collapsing in relief when it did not shift and crack beneath him. “Here.” Zoe ignored the hand he held out to her, instead getting to her feet to step onto the ice sheet herself. Beneath her, the fragment lurched, almost sending her toppling back into the water. Jamie lunged to grab hold of her shirt, dragging her away just in time. “Hey! What did I say about being careful?”

“Sorry,” Zoe said quietly. “I suppose you _were_ right. I don’t know what I’m doing out here.”

“Neither do I,” Jamie admitted. “No’ really.” He squinted at the horizon, trying to make out the place where ice met solid ground. “How far do ye think we have left tae go?” He helped Zoe to her feet, shoving his hands into his pockets and hunching his back against the wind.

“Too far,” Zoe replied. She grinned up at him, a twinkle of mischief coming back into her eyes. “I thought you said you wouldn’t pull me out if I fell in?”

“Aye, well.” Jamie smiled back at her. “The Doctor would never forgive me if I came back without ye.” She laughed. “An’… maybe I’d miss ye. Just a wee bit.”

She bumped her shoulder against his. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Jamie wrapped his arm around her shoulders, huddling close to her. “So, do ye think we’re going tae make it?”


	40. "I have to stay awake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Jamie?”

Zoe was shaking his shoulder, clearly thinking that he had fallen asleep slouched against the bunker door. He brushed her touch away, sitting up straight to glower at her. “I’m still awake, ye know.”

“Oh.” Zoe stepped back, holding her hand against her chest as if startled by the contact. “You didn’t look like it.”

“I was thinkin’,” Jamie said. “That’s all.” She remained standing there, frowning down at him concernedly. “Och, stop fussin’ and go back tae bed, Zoe. I dinnae really feel up tae talking.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take over?” Zoe's expression became tinged with pity. “You look -”

“Aye, I’m sure I do.” Gingerly, Jamie levered himself off the crate he had been sitting on, reaching down to stoke the smouldering fire at his feet. Embers skittered out of the softly glowing charcoal and onto the dew-damp earth, fizzling out as quickly as they had sprung into life. “Dinnae worry about me,” he added. “I can stay awake. I _have_ tae stay awake.”

Zoe hesitated. “You don’t have to stay here alone, though.”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Jamie said firmly. “Ye can go back inside.”

She did not move, staring down at him defiantly. “I won’t talk if you don’t want me to,” she argued. “I’ll just stay for a little while -” Her expression turned pleading. “I can’t sleep.”

Sighing, Jamie pushed the crate aside to sit down on the ground, patting the spot beside him. “Och, alright. ‘Spose some company would be nice. But only for a wee while, ye understand?”

He noted with some amusement that Zoe sat down as delicately as if she had been wearing a spotless jumpsuit, not a haphazard patchwork shift cobbled together from rags. Even after weeks in the grimy, decaying wasteland, her space station sensibilities remained, and she regarded dirt with distaste. For all her promises to stay quiet, it was clear that she was bursting to break the silence, and it did not take long for her to speak up. “What were you thinking about?” she asked tentatively.

“The Doctor,” Jamie said simply. “What else?”

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

“’Course he will.” Jamie patted her shoulder, trying to give her a reassuring smile. “I’ve seen him in tighter spots than this.”

“But it’s been _days_ ,” Zoe insisted. “Have you ever known him to be gone as long as this?” Jamie shrugged. “Surely he can’t still be alive down there. Alive and free, at least. Don’t you think we should go down there too? At least to take a look?”

“He said that if we tried tae rescue him, we’d make things harder for him, remember?”

Zoe snorted. “Do you always do what the Doctor tells you?”

“No,” Jamie snapped. “But – we’ve been together a long time, him and me. An’ after a while, ye learn tae tell when he’s right and when he’s wrong. He said tae give him time, an’ he’s got -” He shook his sleeve up, checking his watch. “About half an hour.” The words spilt out of his mouth without warning, and he froze, staring wide-eyed at Zoe, knowing it was useless to hope that she had not caught his meaning.

“You’re going to rescue him?” Jamie nodded, hanging his head. “But you’re not prepared – do you even know where you’re going?”

Pulling a rough bag out from underneath his shirt, Jamie held it out towards her. She took it, peeked at the supplies inside, and looked back up at him with a new-found respect growing in her eyes. “I’ve been ready for days,” he explained. “Saved my rations, got a compass of one of the wanderers for some food. I’ll find him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Zoe was scowling at him, as he had known she would. “I could have helped.” For all her frustration with him, she was half on her feet already, restless with eagerness. “When are we leaving?”

“No, Zoe -” Jamie reached out to grab her sleeve, dragging her back down onto the ground. “I didnae want ye trying tae come with me, I’ve only packed enough food for one person – it’s safer if I go alone.”

“That’s why you took the watch alone tonight,” Zoe realised. “You were going to slip away before the sun came up, so nobody would know.”

Jamie nodded. “They’d all think there’d been an ambush.”

“You were going to leave me alone like that?” Zoe shoved the bag back towards him, and he fumbled to catch it, cradling it anxiously. “Stuck on this backwards planet, thinking I’d lost both of you?”

“I thought it’d be better than waitin’ around for us tae come back,” Jamie snapped.

“Go on, then.” Zoe stood up, backing away from him slowly. “Go and rescue him, if you’re so sure you know what’s best. I’ll take the rest of the watch.”

“Fine.” Shouldering the bag, Jamie got to his feet and set off towards the wasteland. He paused when he reached the fence surrounding the bunker, his hand resting on the gate. “Zoe? I’m sorry.” She turned her shoulder towards him, ignoring him. “I was just trying tae protect ye, but maybe I should’ve trusted ye an’ asked ye to come with me.”

“Yes, you should have,” she muttered. “I’m not a child, Jamie. I don’t need to be protected.”

“I know you’re not – och, Zoe. If I’m not going tae come back, I don’t want tae leave ye like this.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she relaxed, glancing over her shoulder towards him. “I’m sorry, too. You were only doing what you thought was best.”

“I didnae mean tae -” He paused. “Hey, listen.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

Something small and dark was flitting between the shattered tree trunks and fallen branches, twittering out its quiet, frail song. “It’s a bird,” he said softly. “Must be nearly dawn, then.”

“Don’t be silly, Jamie,” Zoe said, folding her arms and coming to join him at the gate. “It’s a plasma-bombed wasteland out there, there’s no _birds_.”

“They’re out there, can’t ye hear them?”

Zoe huffed. “Even if they were, they must be dying. Nothing could live out there.”

“Shh. Look.” The bird had landed on the ground in front of the gate, pecking around at the ravaged soil. They watched as its search grew more frantic until it uncovered its prize – a twig, carefully selected, as if it was going to build a nest. Jamie turned to grin at her. “I think they’re doing well for themselves, don’t ye? Comin’ out when it’s all quiet, and the shooting hasnae started yet.” He smiled at it a little wistfully as it skittered away, fleeing back into the safety of the ruined forest. “I wonder where the rest of them are away nestin’.”

“Mm.” Zoe was staring after the bird, enchanted. “You know, I’ve never seen a real bird making a nest before. Only in holograms and books.”

“There ye go, then. Life goes on.” The sound of Jamie opening the gate made the last vestiges of birdsong fall into a nervous silence. “Dinnae wait too long,” he called over his shoulder as he went.

“I won’t,” Zoe called back. “Bring him home, if you can.”


	41. "If we can just get past this last door..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for [ettelwenailinon](http://ettelwenailinon.tumblr.com).

“Hurry, Doctor!” Jamie pressed himself against the Doctor’s back, pushing himself up to peek over his shoulder and see what he was doing. “Have ye found the right one?”

“I _am_ hurrying,” the Doctor snapped. “If we can just get past this last door quickly, I think we might make it out in time...” He fumbled with the keyring in his hands. “Now, we’ve tried this one – and, ah, I seem to remember trying this one before...” He tried to fit it into the lock, only for it to get stuck halfway in. “Oh, crumbs…”

“That was the first one we tried.” Grabbing one of the keys, Jamie shoved it awkwardly into the lock. “Hey, what about this one?” To his satisfaction, the key clicked into place and turned. “Are ye sure we shouldn’t have tried following the clues instead?”

“We _did_ follow the clues,” the Doctor said, waving the keyring. “We found this, and we used it.”

Jamie shook his head. “Well, as long as Zoe -” Opening the door a crack, he peered outside and groaned. “You’re no’ going tae believe this, Doctor. Look who’s out there.”

“I can see you, you know.” Zoe’s voice floated in through the doorway. “It’s no good skulking around outside.”

“We beat you, fair and square,” Zoe’s new friend Melanie added.

Reluctantly, the Doctor pushed the door open and stepped outside. “I was sure we’d finish before you,” he muttered petulantly. Jamie followed him, giving Zoe and Melanie an awkward smile. They were lounging on a nearby bench, looking as satisfied as cats after a meal, and he exchanged a pained grimace with the Doctor.

Zoe’s expression grew smug at the sight of their frustration. “What did you make of room four?”

“Room four?” Jamie frowned, trying to remember whether he had paid any attention to its clue. “Was that the one with the wee puzzle box?” Zoe and Melanie might have beaten them, he thought, but they hardly needed to have the satisfaction of knowing just how he and the Doctor had gotten through the course.

“No,” Melanie corrected. “That was the one where you had to get the ball through the maze to turn the handle -”

Before Jamie could even begin to think up some story, the Doctor answered her reluctantly. “Ah – Jamie and I didn’t finish room four, Zoe.” Wincing, Jamie turned his back on the others, pretending to be absorbed in examining the food stalls on the other side of the field. Why the Doctor and Zoe had been so keen to test their intellects against each other rather than settling for one of the carnival’s simpler games, he still could not fathom.

“Didn’t finish room four?” Zoe echoed. “But then how did you get out?” She grinned triumphantly. “Did you get someone else to help you?”

For a moment, the Doctor seemed silenced by the same embarrassment that gripped Jamie, but he soon pressed on valiantly. “No,” he said, sounding a little choked. “Did you notice the security doors?” Zoe nodded. “Someone had left a set of keys in one of them. I tested them on the keyholes for the puzzle doors, and – well, it worked, didn’t it?”

Zoe let out a guffaw of laughter, loud and unexpected enough to startle a gaggle of passers-by. “You cheated your way out?” she wheezed between bouts of laughter.

“No!” Jamie exclaimed, affronted. “We didnae _cheat_ , we just -” He glanced helplessly at the Doctor, searching for some convenient excuse.

“Used a clue that other people didn’t find,” the Doctor finished cheerfully. “If they didn’t want people to use the keys, they shouldn’t have left them lying around, should they?”

“I tried tae stop him,” Jamie added weakly.

Melanie was staring at them disbelievingly. “Are you going to take the keys back?”

“Ah – yes, of course. Eventually.” The Doctor pocketed the keys even as he spoke.

At last, Zoe managed to get her laughter back under control enough to speak. “How many rooms did you actually solve, then?” she asked.

“None,” the Doctor admitted, which sent Melanie off into giggles as hysterical as Zoe’s.

“You spent an hour on the first room before you found the keys?” Zoe exclaimed.

“Well, ah -” The Doctor glanced at his watch. “Yes, I suppose we did.”

“It was a simple equation!”

“It was impossible to solve, they didn’t factor in the time value!”

“You could have _guessed_ , there were only four boxes.” Zoe turned to Melanie. “Can you believe we were worried about room seven taking us ten minutes?”

Melanie shook her head. “Your dads are awesome.”

Now it was Zoe’s turn to freeze with embarrassment. She turned to gape at Melanie, her laughter dying away. “They’re not my _dads_ ,” she protested, but the Doctor was already heading over to put his hands on her shoulders, smiling mischievously.

“Ah – Melanie, we did promise to take our _daughter_ to get ice cream after we finished the rooms,” he said. “I’m sure Zoe would enjoy it if you came with us, wouldn’t you, Zoe?”

Melanie jumped to her feet. “I’m free. I’ve still got an hour before my train.”

“You’re so embarrassing,” Zoe muttered at the Doctor, giving Melanie a strained smile.

“Splendid,” the Doctor said, beaming down at her. “Come along, Zoe, dear.”


End file.
